Sex Segregated Schools: Separate and Unequal

The Anthony family is fighting segregation by sex in the Breckinridge County middle school. Clockwise: Frankie, Stacey, Nikki, Sean and Carol Anthony.
A.N.A. V. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
PODCASTS
	Anthony family talks about sex-segrated schools in Breckinridge County, Kentucky
	Women's Rights Project Deputy Director Emily Martin Talks about Sex-Segregated Education
LEARN MORE > Blog: Nikki Anthony on a Student Experience of Sex-Segregated Education > Blog: Selene Kaye on How Sex-Segregated Education Creates Inequality, Not Choice > ACLU Represents Students In Challenge To Sex Segregation In Kentucky Public School > Read the complaint (PDF)
FACT SHEETS > Sex Segregated Schools: Just the Facts > Boys' Brains vs. Girls' Brains: What Sex Segregation Teaches Students

The ACLU Women's Rights Project works to ensure that public schools do not become sex-segregated and that girls and boys receive equal educational opportunities. In recent years, many school districts have introduced programs that allow for expanded use of single-sex education, often presenting these programs as quick-fix solutions to the array of problems facing many public schools. This trend sharply accelerated in October 2006, when the U.S. Department of Education announced new Title IX regulations making it easier for public schools to implement single-sex schools and classrooms.

In addition to being unlawful, the rationale behind sex-segregated academic programs is bad for kids. These programs are often based on questionable science about how girls' and boys' brains develop and on disturbing gender stereotypes. For example, advocates of sex-segregated schools tell teachers that:

1. Boys need a competitive and confrontational learning environment, while girls can only succeed if they work cooperatively and are not placed under stress;
2. When establishing authority, teachers should not smile at boys because boys are biologically programmed to read this as a sign of weakness;
3. Girls should not have time limits on tests because, unlike boys, girls' brains cannot function well under these conditions; and
4. Boys are better than girls in math because boys' bodies receive daily surges of testosterone, whereas girls don't understand mathematical theory very well except for a few days a month when their estrogen is surging.

Although these ideas are hyped as "new discoveries" about brain differences, they are, in fact, only dressed up versions of old stereotypes. Creating sex-segregated schools and classrooms is a waste of time and effort that diverts resources from initiatives that actually will improve the education of both boys and girls—such as reducing class sizes and increasing teacher training. Moreover, these sex-segregated classes deprive students of important preparation for the real, coeducational worlds of work and family. Rather than offering choice, sex-segregated programs limit the education of both boys and girls.

The ACLU opposes sex-segregation in public education because it is unconstitutional, because it perpetuates antiquated gender stereotypes, and because it deprives both girls and boys of the benefits of co-education.

More on the Women's Rights Project's work on sex-segregated schools:

NEWS
> ACLU Asks Alabama School Districts To Disclose Documents On Sex Segregated Programs (12/15/2008)
> ACLU Warns Alabama School District That Its Mandatory Sex Segregation Program Is Illegal And Discriminatory (11/12/2008)
> ACLU Represents Students In Challenge To Sex Segregation In Kentucky Public School (5/19/2008)
> Sex Segregation In Florida's Public Schools A Bad Move, Says ACLU (4/10/2008)
> ACLU Requests Georgia School District Disclose Sex Segregation Plans (4/7/2008)
> New Education Department Regulations Violate Title IX, Constitution (10/24/2006)
> ACLU Wins Major Lawsuit Against Sex-Segregated School in Louisiana (8/3/2006)
> ACLU Says Single-Sex Education Proposal Gets Failing Grade (3/3/2004)

CASES
> Alabama Open Records Act Requests
> A.N.A. v. U.S. Department of Education
> Selden v. Livingston Parish School Board

RESOURCES
> Women's Rights Project Deputy Director Emily Martin and Professor Cornelius Riordan Debate Sex Segregation as an Educational Strategy (February 2008, off-site)
> Fact Sheet: Sex Segregated Schools: Just the Facts
> Fact Sheet: Boys' Brains vs. Girls' Brains: What Sex Segregation Teaches Students
> Venus and Mars in Separate Classrooms: The Rise of Single-Sex Education, an article written by the ACLU's Emily Martin and published by the Florida Association of Women Lawyers (Spring 2007)
> Statement by the ACLU of Michigan regarding H.B. 4264, a bill on sex-segregated schools (6/14/2007)
> New Title IX Regulations Pose a Serious Threat to Civil Rights of Students (10/26/2006)
> ACLU Letter to the Department of Education on Single-Sex Proposed Regulations Comments (4/23/2004)
> ACLU Single-Sex Notice of Intent Comments to the Department of Education (7/8/2002)