Today pregnant and parenting teens are allowed to attend school. Girls are no longer barred from taking certain classes such as auto mechanics and criminal justice. Women have access to higher education now that such obstacles as quotas and requiring higher scores for admission have been eliminated. Although women have much greater access to higher education, equity is still out of reach. While women are 55 percent of undergraduate students, they are still concentrated in certain traditional fields of study.
Sexual harassment is widespread in all levels of education.
The AAUW Survey on Sexual Harassment in America's School s, published in 1993 by the AAUW Educational Foundation, revealed that 85 percent of girls in grades 8 through 11 are sexually harassed, and that this harassment impacts their learning. More than half the students didn't know if their school had a sexual harassment policy. Although not directly regulated by Title IX, these factors have a great impact on the extent students can benefit from education programs. Girls typically get less attention, less praise, less criticism, and less encouragement than boys. The focus on male students means that female students with special needs or talents are underrepresented in educational programs for gifted students and students with learning disabilities.