If you didn’t catch the footnote in my book, or didn’t watch the ESPN Title IX program 37 Words (also on Hulu for a limited time), then it’s most likely you’ve not heard of Bernice Sandler. I didn’t hear of her until she passed away three years ago at the age of 90. And that’s a shame, because thanks to her, I had career and sports opportunities my mother and grandmother didn’t have.

Bernice Sandler found the footnote about the amendment to an executive order that prohibited organizations with federal contracts from employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, and national origin.

The amendment said they could also not discriminate on the basis of sex.

It was exactly what Bernice needed to challenge the University of Maryland which failed to hire her for several open teaching positions in her department. She was qualified, but as a colleague shared with her, she “came on too strong for a woman.”

 I wonder how her personality compared to that of some of the men she worked with. Did any of them “come on too strong?”

Sandler’s research and the support she received from the Women’s Equity Action League, a small women’s rights group, led to a class-action lawsuit against 250 colleges and universities that demonstrated widespread discrimination against hiring women.

When she received the complaints, Democrat Congresswoman Edith Starrett Green hired Sandler to be part of her staff and they drafted the proposed legislation for Title IX. With bipartisan support from Democrat Patsy Mink, Republican Ted Stevens, and Republican Birch Bayh, who wrote the life-altering 37 words, Richard Nixon signed the bill into law on June 23, 1972.

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Legally, doors were opened to women. Universities receiving federal funding had to lift quotas on how many women they accepted into their legal, medical, and science programs. Colleges could no longer require that women have higher grades than men for admission.

The first women who entered those programs or got those jobs met resistance every step of the way. But they forged on with the support of some teachers and administrators—and each other. 

Because of women who came on too strong, because of their determination and persistence, I was able to play basketball in high school, earn a business degree in college, and be hired for management positions in my career.

The stories of women who come on too strong remind me of the Eleanor Roosevelt quote:

Read more about Bernice Sandler

You may not know her name. But Bernice Sandler, ‘Godmother of Title IX,’ changed women’s rights forever, by Brandon Griggs, CNN, January 13, 2019

All In, by Billie Jean King, p. 210-212.