| Abstract: | In theory, the electromagnetic spectrum belongs to everyone. In practice, stations owned by men hold approximately 90% of the licenses to broadcast on the public spectrum in the United States. In order to address this problem, federal legislation should be adopted that mimics the framework of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by prohibiting broadcast media companies from discriminating based on gender. Instead of the federal funds received by colleges and universities, the federal benefits here are the potentially lucrative broadcast licenses select radio and television stations receive. Under the proposed legislation, broadcasters would be required to establish gender parity within their organizations or risk losing their license to operate on the public spectrum. |
