Saying Goodbye to the 112th Congress and Hello to the 113th

The 112th Congress officially adjourned Wednesday, ending what’s been described as the least productive Congress ever. For some context, just 219 bills passed by the 112th Congress have been signed into law. The Congress before that passed 383 bills, and the one before that saw 460 bills signed into law. Clearly, a lot of important work was left unfinished and will have to be taken up by the 113th.

For one thing, the 112th didn’t pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA), a much-needed update to the Equal Pay Act of 1963. AAUW is a strong supporter of this legislation and led efforts to bring it before both chambers for a vote. Unfortunately, the PFA didn’t get the required procedural votes, so it will have to be reintroduced in the 113th Congress.

Another item still on Congress’ to-do list is the passage of an inclusive Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization. The Senate passed an AAUW-supported, bipartisan, comprehensive VAWA in April 2012, while the House of Representatives passed a different, damaging bill the following month. Due to resistance in the House, the two bills were not reconciled, and the reauthorization was not passed.

In addition to PFA and VAWA, the 113th Congress will face many other items on its agenda:

• The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which sets parameters for K–12 education and funding, is due for reauthorization. AAUW will be paying attention to many issues during this process, including
  • upholding Title IX protections,
  • opposing private school vouchers,
  • ensuring that charter schools are held to the same standards as other schools,
  • requiring that schools be held accountable for demonstrating that they are meeting educational goals for all students,
  • opposing single-sex education programs that don’t pay proper attention to civil rights protections, and
  • supporting requirements that schools collect comprehensive data on student achievement and graduation.

• The Higher Education Act, which is the most significant federal law for American colleges and universities, is up for reauthorization. AAUW supports increasing access to higher education for traditional and nontraditional students.

• Both the Workforce Investment Act and the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act will need reauthorizing in the 113th Congress. AAUW will watch these bills closely to ensure that they promote training in careers and fields that are nontraditional for women and help move women into higher-paying occupations.

We’re also keeping pressure on the Obama administration. AAUW believes President Obama should pay attention to women’s priorities, especially since women’s votes decided the 2012 election. See AAUW’s list of what Obama should do on day one of his new term.

These are some of our top priorities for the 113th Congress. What are yours?

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Look What We Did Together

As 2012 draws to a close, we’d like to take a moment to thank our AAUW members and supporters for your extraordinary efforts to advance our shared mission. Your advocacy and donations have helped AAUW influence public policy and implement successful and exciting programming throughout 2012. As educated women and men, you are advocates and catalysts for sustainable social change, and your ongoing support will supercharge our efforts to continue to empower women in the new year.

Thanks to your work and generosity, we can be proud of some impressive achievements. Below are just a select few (read the full list). This year, AAUW

• Received top ratings once again from Charity Navigator, GreatNonprofits, GuideStar, and America’s Charities for our excellent financial management, transparency, and accountability

• Launched the nationwide voter education and turnout campaign It’s My Vote: I Will Be Heard through the AAUW Action Fund. This campaign, targeted at millennial women, engaged members and branches in nearly every state and registered tens of thousands of voters.

• Released Graduating to a Pay Gap, which uses the latest nationally representative data to explore the salary difference between women and men college graduates working full time one year after graduation and examines the effect of the pay gap on the burden of student loan debt

• Awarded $4.3 million in fellowships and grants for the 2012–13 program year, the largest amount in four years, to support 278 women at various stages in their professional and academic careers, research projects, and programs promoting education and equity for women and girls

• Awarded more than $100,000 in case support through the Legal Advocacy Fund to help women like Betty Dukes and Kori Cioca improve working conditions for all women employees at Wal-Mart and women in the military

• Continued to rapidly expand our use of social and new media tools, experiencing 50 percent growth across many of AAUW’s social media channels

• Reached more than 600 women and girls in India, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and China through in-country projects implemented by AAUW fellowships and grants alumnae

• Played a large role in drafting and introducing legislation sponsored by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) that would undo much of the harm caused by last year’s Wal-Mart v. Dukes Supreme Court ruling

• Started a member leadership programs department to facilitate a more focused approach to programs for our AAUW member leaders

• Continued to expand our global commitment to women and girls through participating in the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women and the U.S. National Committee for U.N. Women, sending an international delegation to China, and hosting women visitors from abroad

• Celebrated the 40th anniversary of Title IX

• Awarded 15 Legal Advocacy Fund Campus Outreach Grants to AAUW branches across the country, which held programs on local campuses focused on issues such as pay equity, dating violence, Title IX and athletics, and gender discrimination in the workplace

• Saw the dedicated members of the AAUW Action Fund Capitol Hill Lobby Corps make more than 1,200 congressional office visits on protecting college access and affordability, reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, protecting women’s access to contraceptives, preventing bullying and harassment, passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, and eliminating workplace gender discrimination

• Reached 30 campuses and more than 600 participants with Elect Her–Campus Women Win, the only program in the country that trains college women to run for student government

• Helped guarantee that insurance companies cover women’s preventive care services, including contraception, pap smears, and mammograms, without co-pay or cost sharing

• Updated The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap with numbers and graphics from the 2011 U.S. Census, including new state-by-state rankings

• Confirmed fair pay advocate Lilly Ledbetter, leadership strategist Cynthia D’Amour, and former AAUW fellow and MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry as 2013 AAUW convention speakers, with more to come

• Helped prevent student loan interest rates from doubling this summer so that those with student loans can meet their commitment despite the tough economy

• Took the lead in efforts to bring the Paycheck Fairness Act to a vote. Although the bill failed to overcome procedural hurdles in both the House and Senate, AAUW was recognized by the White House, House of Representatives, Senate, and the press as the leading authority on the bill.

• Earned a perfect score on our audit thanks to the hard work of the AAUW Finance Committee and staff. See the annual report for specific numbers and a wonderful programmatic overview.

• Gathered a record number of almost 600 students for the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders. Save the date for the 2013 conference, May 30–June 1!

• Sent a letter to 10 of the largest public school districts urging them to review and correct their reporting to the U.S. Department of Education of an unlikely zero incidents of sex-based bullying and sexual harassment. Several districts responded.

• Addressed the issue of sexual harassment in grades 7–12 through seven AAUW Campus Action Project grants

• Ensured that the AAUW-backed Campus SaVE Act was included in the Senate-passed reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act

• Reached more than 140 campuses with our $tart $mart salary negotiation workshops

In the past year, AAUW and our advocates have had an undeniable impact in our nation’s capital, on college campuses, in our branches and communities, and around the world. Please make a contribution now so that AAUW can intensify our crucial work to break through barriers for women and girls in the coming year.

From everyone at AAUW, best wishes for a wonderful start to 2013!

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Sexual Assault at Amherst: Looking Beyond the “Share” Button

I opened up my Facebook newsfeed last Thursday morning and found that an article about my alma mater, Amherst College, had been shared overnight an astounding 57 times. Two hours later, the article had been shared another 20 times. Three hours later, 40 more. As a recent Amherst graduate, I was stunned by the story, which has been featured on well-known blogs like Jezebel and the Huffington Post.

On October 17, the student newspaper published a story about former Amherst student Angie Epifano, who described a harrowing experience of being raped in a campus dorm room on May 25, 2011, and what she says was the administration’s mishandling of her attempts to heal. The article has sparked a national dialogue on colleges’ sexual assault and harassment policies just weeks after a sexual assault Title IX lawsuit was filed at Wesleyan University and the report of a misogynistic T-shirt incident at Amherst.

Shortly after the article went viral, a friend invited me to a Facebook group created by alumni to begin a conversation on what the Amherst community can do in addition to sharing the article. Browsing the online group, I came across some of the most touching stories and insightful comments by students I used to sit next to in class and in the dining hall who revealed that they too are survivors. They, like Epifano, say they were hurt at Amherst and did not feel they received the help they needed. They too courageously spoke out about the administration’s reported push for struggling survivors to take time off while their attackers continued their educations without interruption, of the difficulty of disciplinary hearings, and of how easy it is to feel ashamed and alone on such a small campus. As I read these stories, I heard the suffocating silence shatter as students came forward with their unhappiness at a school that has improved the lives of many but may have paralyzed many others.

When I went to click the Facebook “share” button to repost Epifano’s story on my timeline, I paused. I thought of what change sharing one person’s story could really make and quickly realized that it is the collective duty of the community to draw attention to this issue. Change begins with awareness, and social media empowers us all.

Now, my friends are sharing the story from my page. Though uncomfortable, this story must be told because too many like it go unheard. Clicking a button leads to talking about the issue, which leads to doing something about it.

I challenge you to help end dating violence and sexual assault in your community and across the United States. Use the resources out there, educate yourself and your peers, and wield AAUW’s Campus Sexual Assault Program in a Box to improve safety on your campus. Get to know your campus Title IX coordinator. If you don’t have one, ask your administration why, and report it. Advocate to get the Violence Against Women Act reauthorized — a Senate-passed version includes increased campus protections from the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (SaVE) Act.

I stand by my alma mater’s efforts to right its wrongs. Soon after Epifano’s story broke, Amherst President Carolyn “Biddy” Martin and the college trustees released statements promising to enact stricter and more transparent college policies regarding sexual assault. Administrators then set up a website about sexual respect and Title IX so that students could access the school’s policies and understand campus support for the issue. The website also displays a checklist of the college’s planned and completed actionable steps, such as identifying campus space for a gender resource center, hiring an external consultant to review Title IX policies, and investigation into Epifano’s story. Ending sexual assault and gender-based violence is an important fight for our generation, and the ideas we share on Listservs, through social media, and in conversations with our friends and loved ones will move us forward.

This post was written by AAUW Public Policy Intern Amanda Villarreal.

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Chico Branch Stands Up for Girls’ Sports

Carol Holzgrafe, past president of the AAUW Chico (CA) Branch, gives Cindy Wolff a certificate of appreciation for her work to improve equity in Chico schools.

“Why are there more opportunities for boys to play sports at this school than for girls?”

AAUW member Cindy Wolff asked this question in 2008 when her daughter was cut from the girls’ volleyball team at Chico High School in Chico, California. The school had recently reduced the girls’ volleyball team from 15 to 12 players, and Wolff noticed that several girls’ sports teams were smaller than the equivalent boys’ sports teams.

Wolff, a California State University, Chico, professor and director of the university’s Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion, quickly realized what her innocent question meant — the school was likely noncompliant with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which guarantees gender equality in educational opportunities.

This disturbed her. She didn’t want her tax money to go to “support the biases of others.” Sports equity is important to her because “sports participation of girls benefits the entire society,” she said. “It’s good for everyone.”

As a concerned parent and an advocate for equality, she met with the volleyball coach, the principal, and the athletic director about her concerns. None of the conversations led anywhere, so she compiled documentation about the school’s athletics program and filed a complaint with the district. Because her daughter said she faced retaliation at school, Wolff felt she had no other choice but to retract the complaint and file again later.

In fall 2009, Wolff filed another formal complaint against the district, which claimed that the complaint was not supported. Wolff met with the president of the school board. She was the first person who seemed to care, but she didn’t feel that she would be able to do anything. At a school board meeting on the topic, approximately 50 parents voiced similar concerns, but nothing happened afterward.

Wolff used her skills as a social scientist to collect more data. In spring 2010, she presented the data to the local AAUW Chico (CA) Branch. Former athletes and a Title IX expert also spoke at the meeting. Branch President Carol Holzgrafe said that Wolff’s presentation “blew us out of the water. The facts were so appalling, and we couldn’t ignore it.”

The whole branch backed Wolff, and in September 2010, they joined her in filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, which oversees Title IX compliance. Wolff said the filing process was easy, and it only took two days for the agency to respond to say they would investigate. The complaint covered many aspects of inequality beyond just participation numbers. For example, the boys’ teams always had prime-time slots for their games, and only boys’ games had cheerleaders and band performances. Studies show that more people attend games that feature these perks, so the boys’ teams enjoyed more revenue, visibility, and publicity.

In March 2011, four people from the Office for Civil Rights spent four days canvassing the community and interviewing coaches, students, and other school personnel. They interviewed Wolff for an hour. Around that time, a reporter called the agency, and while Wolff was supposed to have anonymity, her name was released inadvertently and included in an article about the investigation in a local Chico newspaper. Sadly, Wolff received hate mail and faced retaliation in the community.

OCR’s investigation found that the school district was not compliant with Title IX. Before the report’s release on June 22, the agency began working with the district to bring them into compliance. After being mentioned in the post-investigation media coverage, Wolff received no hate mail — only messages of support.

An unexpected outcome of the investigation and report is that nearby school districts are changing too. For example, because some of the compliance measures include dividing up the prime-time game slots and adding junior varsity girls’ soccer and tennis teams, schools that Chico competes against also must become more compliant. Wolff points out that “one OCR complaint can evoke change in an entire region.”

Both Wolff and the AAUW branch are very pleased with the outcome of the investigation. Holzgrafe said, “This is the reason I belong to AAUW. We’re such movers and shakers. It’s so nice to identify a wrong and do something about it and have the organization behind us to do it.”

If you want to investigate whether your local school is compliant with Title IX, download AAUW’s Title IX Compliance: Know the Score Program in a Box to help you get started.

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Title IX and Me: From Ice Hockey to Equal Rights Advocacy

When I was only 3 years old, my parents strapped my first set of ice hockey skates on me — a Minnesotan rite of passage. Before long, ice hockey became my passion. However, upon entering high school, I learned that there wasn’t a girls’ team. At that moment, I experienced a rude awakening: Gender inequality was the status quo in my community.

Armed with my strong convictions and leveraging Title IX’s mandate, I led my peers and community members to lobby the school board to create a girls’ ice hockey team. Testifying against sexist opposition just like the pioneers of Title IX once did, we successfully convinced the school board to establish a girls’ team, an experience that has forever shaped my perception of what one passionate and goal-oriented individual can accomplish.

This early experience not only led to higher education and athletic opportunities that I might not otherwise have had but also guided my personal and professional pursuits. I was fortunate to attend Amherst College, graduate with honors in psychology, and serve as a captain of the women’s ice hockey team. The skills I obtained and the confidence I built as an athlete and as a member of a team were invaluable, leading me to ultimately become an attorney and an advocate for equal opportunities for all people. Along the way, I have advanced important social causes, served in leadership roles traditionally held by men (including as editor-in-chief of the Rutgers Law Review), and empowered the next generation of women as a mentor and role model.

Recently, by winning a Good Maker challenge, I received funding from the National Women’s Hall of Fame to pursue a sports and leadership project for girls. The premise of the project is to host a sports and leadership clinic not only to inspire, motivate, and empower young girls but also to enable older female athletes to give back to their communities and help instill in the next generation the passion, drive, and commitment that is necessary to maintain and expand equal opportunities.

Ensuring the protection of these opportunities was unquestionably the key message of the National Women’s Hall of Fame 40th anniversary Title IX celebration in Washington, D.C., last week. I was fortunate to have been recognized as a new generation leader at this event alongside the true pioneers and leaders of the women’s rights movement (my role models). Many of the distinguished speakers and panelists voiced the concern that the next generation may fail to understand the significance of Title IX and simply take those opportunities for granted. There is much more work to be done, and that work is now in the hands of the next generation.

This point resonated with me because of the similarities between the obstacles that the Title IX pioneers faced and those that modern-day female athletes still encounter. Bernice Sandler, known as the “godmother of Title IX” because of her role in the development and passage of the law, spoke about having to coordinate bake sales and other fundraisers to buy equipment. This story reminded me of some of the hand-me-down equipment that my college ice hockey team received from the men’s team. Did the Amherst women’s ice hockey team have to win a national championship to prove its worthiness and finally receive its own new jerseys and equipment?

I was also reminded of my own experience when Neena Chaudhry from the National Women’s Law Center explained the rationale behind the current challenges to Title IX — that girls are not as “interested” in sports as boys. That premise is precisely the one I encountered and believed I overcame in high school, more than 15 years ago. I’d say this attitude is clear evidence that we still have work to do!

Linda Hallman, executive director of AAUW, concluded the panel with a strong and passionate call to action: “Get out the vote!” I could not agree more. What a simple yet effective means to protect Title IX and to ensure its commitment to providing equal opportunities for all.

Each of the other panelists provided their own amazing tales and calls to action. Other speakers included Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). Finally, I’d be remiss to conclude without mentioning the ever humble, eloquent, and passionate women’s rights advocate Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN), the “father of Title IX.” What I appreciated the most about him was that despite his integral involvement in the creation and passage of Title IX, he was happy to take a backseat to demonstrate his admiration for all the amazing and accomplished women in the room.

From the Olympian sitting next to me to the executive sitting across from me, the women at this conference were awe-inspiring. I only hope that through my life’s work I can continue to advance their fight to provide equal opportunities for women and that I will find and create opportunities to share my passion with and instill the same ideals in the next generation of women!

This blog post was written by National Women’s Hall of Fame grantee Heidi S. Alexander, Esq.

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Tackling Title IX Compliance since the ‘70s

From left: Beth Brooke, global vice chair of public policy at Ernst and Young; Bernice Sandler, “godmother of Title IX”; and Linda Hallman, executive director of AAUW

Earlier this week, I participated in a panel discussion hosted by the National Women’s Hall of Fame — Leading. Achieving. Winning. 40 Years of Title IX.

I was joined by both women and men — including Bunny Sandler, the “godmother of Title IX,” and former Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN), the “father of Title IX” — who championed Title IX and who were early recipients of its benefits. I spoke about the educational challenges surrounding Title IX enforcement on campuses when the law was first passed 40 years ago as well as some of the current challenges that exist for women and girls in areas where Title IX can make a difference.

Title IX brought about some of the most sweeping changes America’s educational system has ever seen, but those changes took time. In 1977, AAUW created a monitoring program to determine compliance with Title IX in higher education, and AAUW branches investigated compliance at more than 200 colleges and universities. The results ran the gamut. Some institutions were fully compliant, while others refused to participate in the process. Our investigation illustrates just how much opposition Title IX met and how much work was involved to make it the force it is today. Here are several examples of the findings:

“Encountered a defensive attitude on the subject! ‘Mr. Smith’ made the personal decision that Title IX was another government form too minor to consider. A dean of the university was unaware of Title IX entirely!”

“There are real inequities in hiring and salaries, while the official self-evaluation form claims no problems exist!”

“The most notable features of our branch’s monitoring experience were 1) amazement and anger at the lack of cooperation of school officials and 2) the discovery of a network of women who are quietly working behind the scenes for change. The difficulties we encountered in gaining access to what is actually public information have made us determined to find out what is going on.”

Thanks in part to dedicated AAUW members, more campuses are compliant with Title IX today than in 1977. But the work is not done. Policy makers and advocates need to look for new ways to ensure that Title IX’s promise extends throughout federally funded educational programs ranging from athletics to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We must ensure that Title IX compliance remains a priority for gender equity in the future.

For the most comprehensive look at Title IX today, refer to Title IX at 40: Working to Ensure Gender Equity in Education. The report was released by the National Council for Women and Girls in Education, a nationwide coalition that is chaired by AAUW.

Do you have a personal interest in this issue? Check out the Title IX Compliance: Know the Score Program in a Box. Has your branch monitored Title IX compliance in schools near you? If so, what did you find? Share your story in the comments section below.

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40 Years: We’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe

Jane Broendel (photo: NALC)

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1972 passage of Title IX, I wanted to hear the perspective of someone who remembers going to school before the law was enacted — someone like my mom, Jane Broendel. She graduated from high school in 1973. The following year, her school in rural Illinois started a girls’ basketball team. “I would have loved to have had the opportunity [to play basketball], but I had to wait until college. Even then, it was walk-on,” she says.

Even when her high school started offering sports teams for girls, my mom remembers seeing inequity in things as basic as uniforms. “Of course, the uniforms in high school were the boys’ teams’ hand-me-downs!” she says. “And in college, both at Danville Junior College and Illinois State University, the women wore the same uniform for volleyball, basketball, and softball. Of course, the men had nice, new, and sport-appropriate uniforms.”

But the inequity didn’t stop on the playing field or in the gymnasiums. My mom’s sister — my Aunt Kathie — went to the same high school. She was interested in pursuing a career in architecture and needed to take a drafting class. When she tried to sign up, she found out that the teacher had let a girl into the class during a previous term, claimed she had been disruptive, and made a rule that he would not allow other girls into the class.

My aunt didn’t get to see if she was good at — or even liked — drafting, so she feels like her career choice was limited when she wasn’t allowed to take that one class. “It wasn’t fair,” she says. “It didn’t matter that I was a good student. They could exclude you because you’re female, and he chose to. He told me no, and he told me why, and that was the end of that. But now, you couldn’t get by with it.” Strengthening Title IX enforcement is extremely important. No woman or girl should experience the limitations others faced just 40 years ago.

And the battle continues today. My mom remembers how the girls’ sports teams had to use “second-rate” facilities and how they also experienced unfair scheduling — the boys’ teams got the first pick of the prime-time slots for games. Her story reminds me of a case that the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund is supporting right now, Parker v. Indiana High School Athletic Association. The plaintiffs in the case are arguing that the majority of boys’ basketball games are played in prime time — on Friday and Saturday nights — while the girls’ games are relegated to weeknights. The plaintiffs say that these schedules unfairly put academic burdens on the girls by forcing them to compete on school nights, discouraging crowd support, and making the girls feel like second-class athletes.

So, 40 years later, we can say that women have come a long way thanks to Title IX, but we still have a long way to go.

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Before Title IX Babies, There Were Title IX Moms

Before dropping me off at a volleyball tournament that I was playing at her alma mater, my Mom said something to me in passing. “Look for me on the hall of fame wall.”

My Mom, Tanya Taylor Moulton, was the second woman to be inducted into her high school’s hall of fame.

After the game at McClintock High School in Tempe, Arizona, I somewhat unexcitedly trudged, hindered by massive knee pads, through the gym lobby on my way out. I remembered to look for her maiden and not her married name, but it wouldn’t have been difficult to pick her out anyway among the crew cuts and ties that dominated the brick wall.

It would be disingenuous to describe my bratty 13-year-old self as fully aware of what I was seeing when I spotted the portrait of Tanya Taylor on the wall. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that, all these years later, I remember the plaque but not how many aces I served that day.

Before I knew enough about history and women’s issues to appreciate Title IX, I knew that the trailblazing that women like my mom did before Title IX was enforced allowed girls like me, socially and practically, to be athletes.

Though she was also a cheerleader, golf was the reason that my Mom was in the hall of fame — the second woman to be inducted. At the time, golf and tennis were the only girls’ sports teams that she remembers competing in state tournaments. Though she wanted to play softball and run track, she was encouraged to stick to sports that were more “ladylike.” Regardless, the school mostly only offered intramural sports for girls.

When my Mom was a junior, the girls’ golf team brought home the state championship — only the second state title in McClintock’s history. The next year, the team were runners-up.

Mom (right) in Yuma, Arizona, after her team won the state championship

By the time she graduated in 1977, Title IX had already started making a difference at her high school. Girls were now swimming and diving in greater numbers, and there were new girls’ track and gymnastics teams.

Decades later, my Mom has shuttled me across town and across the country to countless golf, rowing, softball, cross-country, volleyball, and basketball events. She says she just assumed that her daughters would be athletes.

My Mom was also on the cheer squad, one of the “ladylike” teams she was encouraged to participate in.

Mom has seen Title IX work wonders as a parent, a teacher, and a girls’ golf coach. But she also sees how far we still have to go. As a coach, she sees that at some schools, the girls’ tennis and golf teams have to share uniforms while the boys’ teams get their own. In other cases, the boys’ football or basketball teams get free meals before games while the girls are expected to feed themselves after long matches after school.

And at her alma mater, she’s seen her own sports legacy essentially erased. The hall of fame disappeared when the gym was renovated. Someone told her that the school threw away the plaques. And when Mom visited McClintock last year, she saw that the boys’ golf teams from the 70s — which didn’t win any championships — were displayed in cases, while the girls’ championship and runner-up trophies were nowhere to be found. Seeing this made her blood boil. “It’s like what we did there never existed, I never existed,” she says. What’s worse is that when my Mom complained, a district athletic director was hostile and dismissive.

This week, we’ve been looking back at Title IX’s 40-year legacy, and for many of us, that legacy is very personal. This 37-word law wasn’t intended to revolutionize women’s sports, but I hope that with our hard work, Title IX can foster legacies like my Mom’s and help us remember the trailblazing women who took the law’s potential and ran with it.

Mom playing golf at the oldest course in the world, St. Andrews in Scotland

My Mom is a McClintock sports legend regardless of where they tossed her trophies and plaque. Who are the Title IX stars in your family?

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Fighting for Title IX with Legal Advocacy

This week, as we celebrate Title IX’s 40th birthday and the advances the law has inspired for gender equity, it’s worth remembering AAUW’s year-round efforts to support women who have challenged sex discrimination in education. AAUW’s Legal Advocacy Fund has been instrumental in the success of many gender discrimination cases — in education and in the workplace — during its 31-year history. LAF’s case-support program provides financial and organizational backing for a select number of lawsuits that have the potential to set significant precedents for gender equity. The funds to do this come directly from the generous contributions of AAUW members. Other LAF initiatives include community and campus outreach programs, our Online Resource Library with downloadable advocacy tools, a Legal Referral Network, and research reports.

One case in which LAF played a major role is Mansourian v. Regents of the University of California. LAF first took up this case in 2005, but the women had been fighting long before that. In 2003, Arezou Mansourian, Christine Ng, and Lauren Mancuso filed suit after UC Davis eliminated women’s opportunities in wrestling and dozens of other sports. While the case continued long after they graduated, the women racked up a series of precedent-setting court victories for Title IX, including a landmark win at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which rejected the imposition of procedural hurdles to Title IX suits that challenge inequities in athletic participation. After a bench trial, the court found that the university had violated Title IX. Settlement of a spin-off, class-action lawsuit prompted improvement in the athletic participation ratios of women at UC Davis and provided funds to female athletes at the school.

After their court win, Mansourian, Ng, and Mancuso thanked AAUW members in a letter:

The case simply could not have happened without AAUW’s support. We could not have litigated this fight to victory without the fiscal support of AAUW and the moral support of its members. This case has been embraced at countless AAUW conventions and events across the country. During this long battle, AAUW had our back, and we will continue to have yours.

Mancuso told AAUW that while she was pleased by the outcome of the case, it “serves as a reminder that no matter how much progress we have made in the struggle for equality, there is still much more that needs to be done.”

As former Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN) once said, “Title IX is rather simple — don’t discriminate on the basis of sex.” But when discrimination does occur, AAUW is ready to support women like Mansourian, Ng, and Mancuso, who spent years fighting in court in order to see Title IX enforced for all of us. The Legal Advocacy Fund exists for precisely that purpose — to combat sex discrimination wherever it occurs.

A great way to celebrate 40 years of progress in education and to recognize and support future Title IX enforcement is to help us continue our case-support work by donating to the Legal Advocacy Fund.

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Title IX is about STEM Too

Over the last 40 years, Title IX has brought well-known changes to women’s and men’s sports. What fewer people realize are the other areas in which Title IX is intended to help improve inequities in education — by enforcing compliance reviews that stop sexual harassment and bullying, protecting pregnant and parenting teens, and narrowing the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) achievement gap.

There are many STEM careers that help people and solve world issues, but a lot of girls aren’t aware that these careers exist, nor do they know how to begin on that path. Education and enforcement of Title IX rights in the classroom can help end the influence that stereotypes have on teachers and guidance counselors — stereotypes that keep these mentors from helping girls make the connection between their dreams and STEM fields of study.

Girls are more likely to take biology, chemistry, and precalculus in high school than boys are (I took all three), but these classes often do not translate into a college major in a STEM field. If these girls are anything like me, they viewed such courses as prerequisites for college instead of the beginning of a career path. AAUW’s research report Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics details the reasons why women drop out of — or never enter — the STEM pipeline. Title IX enforcement can improve many of these problems. For example, the personality career tests that guidance counselors commonly give to help determine where students’ skills lie may feed into stereotypes and violate Title IX if the tests indiscriminately place girls out of STEM careers.

After-school programs, summer camps, activities, encouragement by parents, and role models are crucial for fixing the STEM pipeline for women and girls. But Title IX enforcement must play a larger role if we ever wish to see true change in schools.

Mae Jemison, center, the first African American woman in space, testifies about Title IX before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Title IX was a part of the Education Amendments of 1972 and is now 20 years older than me. When I was old enough to play sports, I didn’t feel like I faced gender discrimination — in fact, I thrived. I never had to fight for the ability to play on a softball team. I knew that Title IX and its advocates made this possible for me, but I wish I had known more about the law’s reach. Like me, many people are only now learning how far Title IX can go to make education more equitable, just as it has done and continues to do for sports.

Here’s what everyone should know: Under Title IX, schools that receive federal funding must ensure equity in STEM education for all students. Stereotypes and biases, no matter how small, threaten equity and equal opportunities for girls. Title IX enforcement is only possible with the help of communities to keep schools in compliance. That’s where you come in. Read up on Title IX to find out where it’s been and where it’s going — because it’s not just about sports but ensuring that everyone gets a fair shot.

This post was written by AAUW Marketing and Communications Intern Marie Lindberg.

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