Separate But Equal and Single-Sex Schools

20 Pages Posted: 11 Jan 2005

See all articles by Gary J. Simson

Gary J. Simson

Cornell University - Law School; Mercer University - Walter F. George School of Law

Abstract

Spurred on by published reports about gender bias in the schools, public single-sex schools, which had almost disappeared from the scene in the U.S. fifteen years ago, began to make a comeback in the early 1990s. In addition, in the past few years, the Bush Administration has taken measures to add momentum to this development. Does the principle that separate is inherently unequal, which the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education laid down in the context of public schools separated by race, also apply to public schools separated by sex?

Part I of this Article examines the constitutionality under the Equal Protection Clause of a school district's having an all-boys school and an all-girls school on the same grade levels. After suggesting in Part I that the fate of such coordinate public single-sex schools should be seen as intimately tied to whether they disadvantage girls, the Article in Part II considers the constitutionality of public single-sex education when it takes a form that on its face advantages girls: girls can choose between a coed and a single-sex public school, while boys can only attend a coed one. The Article suggests in closing that even if public single-sex schools pass constitutional muster, they represent too limited a response to the gender equity problems that sparked renewed interest in public single-sex education in recent years.

Suggested Citation

Simson, Gary J. and Simson, Gary J., Separate But Equal and Single-Sex Schools. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=646961

Gary J. Simson (Contact Author)

Mercer University - Walter F. George School of Law ( email )

1021 Georgia Avenue
Macon, GA 31207
United States
478-301-2628 (Phone)

Cornell University - Law School

Myron Taylor Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
United States

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