Recently, I read Heath Hardage Lee’s book, The League of Wives, about a group of determined women who forced the American government to bring their POW husbands home from Vietnam. I loved this book! When I saw that Heath had moderated a Title IX panel at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, I asked if she’d share her thoughts. So, here she is on the blog today, and again, I love what she has to say!*

On February 6, 1969, President Richard Nixon faced the second press conference of his new administration. He fielded questions on a wide range of topics from a room packed with reporters. However, when Washington bureau chief for the North American Newspaper Alliance Vera Glaser got her turn, she asked him a question no one had expected.

            “Mr. President, in staffing your administration, you have so far made about 200 high-level Cabinet and other policy position appointments, and only three have gone to women. Can you tell us, sir, whether we can we expect more equitable recognition of women’s abilities, or are we going to remain a lost sex?”

            Glaser’s question became part of the push that the new administration needed to prioritize women’s rights and gender equity. In response to Glaser’s query, the President’s Task Force on Women’s Rights and Responsibilities was rapidly organized. The completed Task Force report, entitled “A Matter of Simple Justice” was sent to the President on December 12, 1969. 

Righting the ratio

            Among the major action items in the Task Force report was this recommendation: “The President should appoint more women to positions of top responsibility in all branches of federal government to achieve a more equitable ratio of men and women.” Barbara Hackman Franklin, one of the first female graduates of Harvard Business School and rising star in the banking world was appointed as Staff Assistant to the President in April 1971. Within this role, Franklin would lead all efforts to fulfill the Task Force recommendation. Her work would prove critical to the success of the administration’s efforts for women. 

            One of the many ripple effects of the Task Force recommendations and Franklin’s work was the proposal of the landmark Education Amendments, primarily authored by Rep. Patsy Mink, and strongly supported by Rep. Edith Green and Sen. Birch Bayh. These amendments include the now famous Title IX. President Nixon signed these amendments into law fifty years ago on June 23, 1972.

            When the final regulations were issued in 1975, Title IX covered women and girls, students and employees, protecting them all from discrimination. This included sexual harassment, admissions policies, basically every aspect of education K-12 for institutions that receive federal funding.

            Today Title IX is most often equated with women’s sports, but it was part of this broader movement towards women’s rights and gender equity across the board that began with Vera Glaser’s question, the Presidential Task Force for Women, and Barbara Hackman Franklin. This potent push meant that equity for women went from an afterthought under previous administrations to high priority under President Nixon.

Hearing from the athletes

            On June 23 of this year, I helped celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX (renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in 2002) at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. I was honored to set the historical context for the event and interview Barbara Hackman Franklin. Our chat was followed by a panel of outstanding Olympians:  three-time gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings (beach volleyball), four-time gold medalist Janet Evans (distance swimming), and two-time gold medalist Courtney Mathewson (water polo).

            What these young female athletes had to say was heartening. Each of the women noted that they had never felt discriminated against in the sports world due to their gender. Not once had any of them felt the sting of sexism that some of their athlete mothers had warned them about. Thanks to Title IX, all three women had grown up feeling safe, supported and empowered in their respective arenas. These Olympians had never known a world without the benefits and protections of consequential legislation which allowed each of them to soar athletically.

             Thanks to women like Vera Glaser, who asked President Nixon that first question about women’s equality, and Barbara Hackman Franklin, who implemented that first real push for women inside the U.S. government, female athletes today enjoy the same playing field as their male counterparts. They are no longer “the lost sex” in the sports arena.

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* Get to know Heath Lee at her website. https://heathleeauthor.com/

PHOTO (left to right): Kerri Walsh Jennings, Heath Lee, Barbara Hackman Franklin, Janet Evans and Courtney Mathewson.