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Sex Segregated Schools

Why the ACLU of Ohio Opposes Sex Segregated Schools

Sex-segregated schools violate the very principal established in the US Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education that struck down the idea of “separate but equal.” The Court found that under no circumstances can segregated schools be equal because it is impossible to guarantee that facilities, courses, teachers and other materials will be distributed evenly among students. In his written opinion, Chief Justice Earl Warren also pointed to the importance of integration in providing students with a rounded social experience.
 
Racial segregation of the schools was based on outdated racial stereotypes that suggested white and African American children learned differently and could not study in the same classroom. Sex segregation is simply the same concept repackaged with a new set of outdated stereotypes—this time about gender.
 
Proponents of sex segregated schools incorporate several outdated gender concepts into suggested curricula for the schools. In some districts, teachers have been instructed that they cannot look boys in the eyes or smile at them, girls only perform well on math tests during certain days of their menstrual cycle when their estrogen is surging and that boys should have rigorous physical exercise while girls are relegated to “lifestyles” courses.
 
School administrators in the 1950’s rightly realized that segregated classrooms can never be equal and the same holds true today. Segregating young people based on sex violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and it threatens to undo much of what was accomplished under Title IX and cause even more inequality in the schools.
 
By segregating schools, students may have vastly different experiences within the same school district. Whether it is access to special mentoring programs, the prevalence of new materials and technology at the school, the amount of academic time given to each classroom or the quality of the curriculum, school districts run the risk of providing unequal opportunities to one group of students over another.
 
There is no comprehensive scientific study that shows sex segregated schools directly improve students’ success. Instead, gimmicks like sex segregated schools serve as smokescreens for the real problems blighting many schools: lack of resources, availability of technology, safety and appearance of schools, prevalence of highly qualified teachers, class size and challenging coursework.

What's happening nationally

The ACLU Women's Rights Project, in coalition with ACLU affiliates, has through litigation and other advocacy challenged sex-segregated schools in multiple states. In August 2006, the ACLU brought a major court case in Louisiana against proposed sex-segregated schools that would be based on ideas such as boys should be taught how to be "heroic," while girls should be instructed in "good character."  The ACLU also revealed that the research the schools were relying on promoted ideas like teachers should not look male students in the eye or smile at them, and girls are only adept at math theory during the few days in their menstrual cycle while their estrogen is surging.  The day after the ACLU filed suit, the school district abandoned its plans.
 
To read more about the Women’s Rights Project’s work on sex-segregated schools, go to http://www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/index.html


What's Happening Locally

In July 2007, the ACLU of Ohio began an investigation into a proposal by the Cleveland Municipal School District to create five sex-segregated schools. Read the press release.
 
The ACLU issued a public records request to the school district asking for any documents pertaining to the procedures and protocols that will be implemented at the schools, as well as any information on how the district came to the decision to implement these schools. Read the public records request.


Resources

Check out the ACLU’s answers to some of the most Frequently Asked Questions about sex-segregated schools.
 
For more information about what experts say will contribute to a school’s academic success, read this August 2006 report by the Buckeye Institute on Public Policy Solutions.