Sports fans and education wonks alike are undoubtedly familiar with Title IX – the landmark 1972 law that mandates gender equity in education. Its role has been primarily to level the playing field in collegiate athletics, mostly because women already outnumber men in many, if not most, education-related areas. That may be about to change.

The one area of academia that is male dominated continues to be in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, fields. In a 2006 National Science Foundation report, data showed that only 20% of the bachelor's degrees in engineering and 27% of the math and computer science degrees were earned by women. At a June 23rd event to mark the anniversary of Title IX, the White House discussed plans on changing that statistic using the law as the vehicle, possibly through regulation, legislation, and/or litigation.

Title IX opened many doors and helped bring at least a semblance of gender equity to college sports. However, as we’ve seen time and time again, weak leaders will often choose the most expedient route possible to follow the law, with No Child Left Behind being a now-classic example, and Title IX was no different. Some institutions chose to get into compliance not by expanding their athletic offerings to female students but by contracting the number of male sports teams. Given that there are multiple approaches to achieving compliance, cutting back men’s programs is the laziest means possible of following the letter of the law, even if they don’t follow the spirit of it.

As you’ve likely heard before from ICW and the U.S. Chamber, we already stand in a precarious position regarding STEM fields, with our proportion of U.S. citizen STEM degree holders dwindling on a yearly basis. President Obama himself has taken this issue on as a priority. The objective of getting many more women to pursue a STEM degree is exactly where we need to be heading as a nation. Achieving gender parity is also the proper direction.

However, if we see Title IX enforced in the same manner in STEM education as we do in athletics, we should have the foresight to expect that compliance to it will occur in the same manner. This is not at all to say the plans should not be pursued, but simply that we cannot solely rely on the better angels of the institutions of higher education to make the right choices when it comes to complying with the law. Should the White House move forward with their plans to use Title IX to achieve gender parity in STEM academia, they should take the lessons of the past to heart and ensure that we are expanding STEM opportunities and not contracting them.