Gender Discrimination and Single Sex Education

1. Gender Discrimination and Single Sex Education Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan (Supreme Court of the United States, 1982) Jared Nicholson

2. Facts of the Case • Respondent Joe Hogan is a registered nurse without a baccalaureate degree in nursing • Hogan applied for admission to the MUW School of Nursing's baccalaureate program • Although otherwise qualified, he was denied admission solely because of his sex. • In 1884, the Mississippi Legislature created the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College for the Education of White Girls of the State of Mississippi • The school, known today as Mississippi University for Women (MUW), has from its inception limited its enrollment to women • The school allows the admission of males only to audit classes

3. District Court Ruling • The District Court ruled against Hogan • Maintenance of MUW as single sex school furthers goal of “providing the greatest practical range of educational opportunities for its female student population." • Consistent with the respected educationally theory that single sex education offers unique benefit to its students • Court here using a “rational relationship test”

4. Court of Appeals Ruling • Rejects rational relationship test. Instead, state has “heavier burden of showing that the gender-based classification is substantially related to an important governmental objective” • The policy excluding Hogan because of his sex denies him equal protection of the law under 14th Amendment • An all female school does not necessarily further the goals of Title IX, enacted in 1972 to promote educational equality • State argument was that Title IX had exempted historically single sex schools from its requirements. This argument rejected

5. Argument for the State- Unique Opportunity for Women • State argues that the furthering of government objective and benefit to society is that single sex schools advance “the quality of higher education for women” • Scientific evidence proves that women’s colleges have a unique place in society because they provide “opportunity for achievement for some female students who would be lost by the absorption of male students into the student body.” • This will allow the prevalence of more women in the professional fields, an obviously desirable goal

6. Astin’s Four Years • Study performed by Alexander Astin purporting to examine the effect of single sex colleges on women • Finds that :1. Students at single sex colleges are more satisfied in general in all aspects of life • 2. Women are more likely to obtain positions of leadership, be involved in student government, and to graduate if they attend single sex colleges • 3. Women’s colleges foster increased “artistic interest and political liberalism” • 4. Both men’s and women’s colleges foster “verbal aggressiveness” and increased faculty interaction.

7. Criticisms • It was emphasized in Hogan’s brief that Astin actually performed his study for single sex colleges as a whole, not just for women’s colleges • State’s brief only alludes to this • Findings are not as powerful and generalizable to women’s colleges like MUW when this is taken into account • On this basis alone, the survey fails to meet the necessary objective of proving that women’s educational objectives are better met through single sex colleges • If anything, using the results of a survey like this promotes view of 14th Amendment Discrimination

8. More Criticisms • More generally satisfied with life? • Too broad • Potentially irrelevant and unnecessary • Survey as appropriate to get this info? • Student government? • Even if valid, is it helpful for State? • Probably not. Should have used only studies that distinguished women’s colleges

9. The Tidball Study • Dr. M. Elizabeth Tidball, a Professor of Physiology at George Washington University, compared the relative career successfulness, as measured by inclusion in Who's Who of American Women, of women graduates of coed colleges and all women's colleges. • Percentage of women who later appeared on this list was 2.3 times greater for those who had attended single sex colleges than those who had attended co-ed colleges • This ratio was approximately constant from the years 1910 to 1950 • This was true for both married and unmarried women appearing on this list

10. Tidball Study • Almost twice as many female faculty members per 1000 students in female single sex schools as there were in co-ed institutions • She finds positive correlation between amount of women faculty and women who later became “career successful” • Finds no correlation between “career successful” women as the amount of male professors rise

11. Methodology • Dr. Tidball merely selected, at random, a total of 1500 women from three editions of Who's Who of American Women. Of these women, 1100 had graduated from college. • Dr. Tidball then obtained data on student enrollment, graduates, and faculty composition for the 59 women's colleges and 289 coeducational colleges and universities attended by the 1100 subjects • She didn’t measure individual academic achievements of any of her subjects, only used the benchmark of “career-successful”

12. Problems • Is she qualified? • Tidball is a professor of physiology without demonstrated training or experience in sociology or educational psychology • Who’s Who a reliable indicator of success • This is unclear • Outdated? • Because many of the best colleges and universities did not admit women at all during the period under review, Dr. Tidball's findings more properly reflect the fact that talented women, finding the doors closed at Harvard, Princeton and Yale, were forced to turn to Radcliffe, Bryn Mawr and Vassar.

13. More Problems • Doesn’t reflect any attempt to measure academic quality of the co-ed colleges to the single sex colleges • Unclear whether we these survey results are even applicable to this specific women’s institution • Is the environment of rural Mississippi at all represented in this survey • Decided 10 years before Daubert • But would it pass the Daubert relevancy test? • Probably not

14. Other Findings Relied on by State • Faculty interaction- single most important factor in determining whether student has overall positive academic experience(Astin study) • At university level, women report frustration that professors don’t take their intellectual and professional aspirations seriously, and this affects their performance(“A Study of the Learning Environment at Women’s Colleges”) • The Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Family Fund Study concluded that “men at co-ed institutions receive more career directed information from faculty members than do women.”

15. Faculty Percentages • Women are better able to associate with female professors than male professors, and are more likely to look to them as role models • In women’s colleges, women constitute 43 percent of the full-time professors. In co-ed colleges, by contrast, the number is 11 percent, or about a quarter of the amount • Of all faculty members, 25 percent are women at co-ed institutions, while 55 percent are female at women’s colleges • Tidball also finds negative correlation between amount of male students and women’s achievement

16. Evaluation • The faculty disparities are probably the most clear and strong evidence offered by the state • In order for it to be effective, must prove more precisely that female faculty members cause greater achievement levels in women • How do you define achievement? Neither Who’s Who nor “as defined by Tidball” is a valid way • Difficult to prove because of ever changing social landscape (i.e. women’s rights movement of 1960’s) • Must get better, more appropriate sample

17. Supreme Court Holding and Rationale • Found survey evidence offered by state unconvincing, affirms Court of Appeals • 1. In the field of nursing, “educational affirmative action” to benefit women makes little sense.” • In Mississippi, 94 percent of nursing baccalaureate degrees are earned by women (98 percent nationally) • If anything, the State is promoting stereotype of nursing as “female profession” • 2. Fails equal protection test • State has made no showing that the gender-based classification is substantially and directly related to its proposed compensatory objective.

18. Rationale • Title IX exclusion for single sex schools doesn’t mean 14th amendment can be disregarded • Historical argument that the school was chartered for compensatory purposes is flimsy • It was not intended to provide these women the same educational opportunities as men. • “the establishment and maintenance of a first-class Industrial Institute and College for the education of white girls of the State of Mississippi, in the arts and *13 sciences, at which such girls may acquire a thorough normal school education, together with a knowledge of kindergarten instruction, also a knowledge of telegraphy, stenography and photography; also a knowledge of drawing, painting, designing, and engraving in their industrial application; also a knowledge of fancy, practical and general needle-work; and also, a knowledge of bookkeeping, with such other practical industries as, from time to time, to them may be suggested by experience; or tend to promote the general object of said Institute and College, to-wit: fitting and preparing such girls for the practical industries of the age.” Miss. Laws 1884, ch. 30.

19. Dissents • Powell notes that a substantial body of empirical research exists that shows how women’s schools serve “remedial objectives” • i.e. short term objective of overcoming historic disadvantages in educational and vocational pursuits • Better argument if not in the heart of Mississippi? • Justice Blackmun, in dissent, says that the “government objective test is too rigid, and something more along the lines of rational basis is better • Could these surveys have passed that less stringent test? • Were they designed for that?

20. Deborah Rhode • 1986 law review article- doesn’t understand why the evidence cited by Powell wasn’t accepted • May be that university failed to make adequate factual showing of: • Higher career aspirations • More self-esteem • Expanded leadership opportunities • Enhanced faculty contact • Greater access to female role models

21. MUW Today • A tradition-rich university that was founded in 1884 (as the first public college for women) and has educated men for more than 20 years. • Mississippi University for Women, affectionately known as The W. • Admitting men since 1982, MUW still provides a high quality liberal arts education with a distinct emphasis on professional development and leadership opportunities for women.