Share Your Story: Do you have a Title IX story to share?
Do you have a Title IX story to share?
Forty years of breaking down barriers for women and girls is a spectacular achievement, and we want to mark this milestone and launch Title IX forward into its next 40 years and beyond. But we need your help!
The National Women's Law Center is compiling Title IX stories from the past and present. We're determined to keep the pressure on to fulfill the law's promise, and by sharing your story today, you can help us do just that.
Please share your story below, and we're not just talking about sports stories. Do you have a story about the science and technology fields, about school bullying and harassment, or about pregnant and/or parenting students? Title IX reaches all those issues and more — and we want to hear those stories, too!
Please note: The views expressed in the stories below are those of the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the National Women's Law Center. All statements of fact in these stories have been provided by the individual authors, and the National Women's Law Center cannot and does not vouch for their accuracy. The Center will compile the stories and may use them, in whole or in part, in our advocacy efforts.
Your Stories
Carol Mastronarde
, oregon,
I attended college in the early 60s-no Title IV. As a zoology major I wanted to work for the Forest Service , in the field, not in an office. I was told that women weren't allowed to do that. Then I applied to train seeing eye dogs but was told that only men did that, unless I got a PhD in genetics and worked in the lab on the breeding program. Now I see as many women as men in the Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service working as rangers. They seem to be doing a great job and seem to enjoy their work. I competed in track events run by the AAU-the only competitive arena for women. I trained with the men's team because there was no one else to compete against on campus. I was told more than once that I must not beat any of the men (by the men, not by the coach). I ignore that, but it was demostrative of the attitude then-even if we were not inferior we had to pretend to be! Title IX has opened up many new worlds for women. Today's women don't realize what they have in the way of opportunity which was not available until recently because of titleIX.
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Nancy R. Griffith
Sacramento, CA, retired teacher
I graduated fron high school in 1967 and was one of those 12 girls who played every sport even though I wasn't the best athlete. But here are some pre Title IX memories: Having to play basketball where the guards and forward couldn't pass the mid-court line. (Girls were too delicate to play full court, don't you know.) Then an innovation: "rovers" who could run up and down the full court - but only 2 of them. Of course we had no uniforms, just our P.E. clothes and pinnies. Mind you this was in a big 2,000 student high school in an upper middle class area where the boys had uniforms for every team including JV and freshman teams. Boys teams travelled in school buses to games while our P.E. teachers took us in their own cars. The boys gym was big and the girls gym much smaller. Girls played basketball outside on the black top while boys played in their gym. Visiting boys teams got to use the girls locker room to change in - sometimes before checking to see if we were done using it! I grew up and became the mother of 3 girls who benefitted fron Title IX. They all played soccer as girls, two swam in high school, one fenced in college, one was on her university's Division I rowing team. Hooray for equality! (Or at least the beginning of it. One of my girl's high school soccer team had bargin jerseys that were too big for them.)
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