Title IX: Nine (or so) to know on the 50th anniversary

By Risa Isard

Fifty years ago, Title IX changed the landscape for women across the United States – on sports fields and in classrooms.

Before President Richard Nixon signed the law forbidding sex-based discrimination at all federally funded educational institutions, women accounted for less than 10% of all medical and law school graduates while fewer than 4% of girls played high school sports. What’s more: it was legal for schools to deny women classroom opportunities, reject them from colleges just for being women, prevent them from competing in athletics, discriminate against pregnant students, sanction hazing and sexual harassment, and retaliate against those who advocated for equality.

Title IX’s impact has been prolific (albeit the progress imperfect and unfinished), with some calling it the most important legislation for women in America after the right to vote. As part of On Her Turf’s celebration of the landmark civil rights law, we recognize these nine (or so) to know who paved the way for Title IX, have championed its transformative legacy, and given women a sporting chance.

It was 1969 and Dr. Bernice “Bunny” Sandler had recently earned her doctorate from the University of Maryland. Her department had seven openings but failed to consider her for any of them. When she asked a colleague about it, he told her “Let’s face it, you come on too strong for a woman.”

Sandler’s then husband helped her understand that there were plenty of strong men in the department and therefore, this was sex discrimination. “It was the first time I had ever thought of myself as having been discriminated against,” Sandler, who died in 2019, recalled decades later.

But just because Sandler had a term for the discrimination she