Title IX is a federal civil rights law that guarantees protection against sex-based discrimination in public schools or any other educational body that accepts funding from the federal government. It was passed on June 23, 1972, as part of the education amendments of 1972, themselves a series of laws meant to update the Civil Right Act of 1964. Although the Civil Rights Act banned some forms of discrimination, it did not explicitly address discrimination in education, and Title IX was introduced to fill that gap in its coverage. It is often invoked as a means of protecting women—whether in the educational workforce or as part of the student body—from bias, bigotry, and prejudice.