Female Education Establishment in the 1970s in the U.S.
Sachie Ito
Have you ever heard “Be a good wife and wise mother”? It was the ideal female image in the 19th Century and the beginning of 20th Century in the U.S. However, some of females tried to get own rights sometimes and got step by step. In 1960s, there was Civil Rights Movement, and Black people got the rights of equality, hiring, education, and regally. It seemed everyone in the U.S. got the same equality, but it was not true. Most females were still struggle with discriminations in many situations like hiring, education, and the stereotypes of cultural norms and expectations. The success of Civil Rights Movement led females to pursue getting their own rights, and they started actions as Women’s Liberation Movement. It was a reaction to legal inequalities and the traditional ideas that women should be satisfied by marriage, housework, and children. The movement became bigger and bigger, they wanted to change the 19th Century’s values. The movement also worked against educational inequality. Although female got the opportunities of education in the 19th Century, it was very limited and almost not in higher education in the beginning of 20th Century. “Knowledge is power”, this is a famous phrase that Fransis Bacon, an English philosopher in 16th-17th Century, said. Education in the one way of knowledge gains, but if you didn’t have opportunities to get? There were some women fought against the discrimination of educational opportunities in 1960s, and the enactment of Title Ⅸ in 1972 was the turning point of changing female education inequality.
“If the 1960s belonged to the blacks, the next ten years are ours”, it is Komisar’s word (Dow 1). In 1963, the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, created by John F. Kennedy and initially chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, had released its report, American Women, that detailed the limited opportunities and discrimination women faced in education, employment, the law, and politics in the U.S. (Dow 7). I thought that America was always advanced the rights of women, so it was surprising me that they were struggle in that time when it’s already 20 years past after World War Ⅱ ended. To eliminate these inequalities and discriminations, in the late 1960s, Women’s Liberation Movement began which goals were to fight for greater equality in education, the workplace, personal finance, reproductive rights, and conceptions of the role of women (King). I think that education is the most important right for building knowledge or career, and education connects strongly with employment and living wealth. In that time, there were opportunities of female education, but it was limited especially higher education. According to NCES, “In the 1970s, female high school graduates aged 25–29 were less likely than their male peers to have completed 1 or more years of college. A similar trend has occurred for female college graduates. In the early 1970s, among high school graduates, about 20 percent of women compared to about 27 percent of men aged 25–29 had completed 4 or more years of college.” Even if women graduated college or university, they didn’t many opportunities to engage their knowledge, most of them became a housewife (Dow 7). How it was difficult time when women couldn’t many chances to get/use higher education, and how lucky I am. Finally, the federal law has guaranteed the right to education free from sex discrimination in the enactment of Title IX in 1972. There were many women who worked for establish Title IX, like Bernice Sandler, Patsy Mink and so on (Wikipedia). After Title IX enacted, Women’s Educational Equity Act was introduced in the House of Congress and established within the Office of Education a Council on Women’s Educational Programs to help provide educational equity for women in the United States, and it Authorized to be appropriated not to exceed $15,000,000 for fiscal year 1975, $25,000,000 for fiscal year 1976, and $40,000,000 for fiscal year 1977 for carrying out the purposes of this Act (CRS). After these movements both civil and government, female education was increased, and everyone has not only the rights, but also the opportunities to education in the U.S without sex- discrimination. Since the late 1980s, the rate of enrollment in college has been more female than men (NCES). As seen me around, I feel sure that many women come to college and get education which they want to learn including me. Before this research, I didn’t know there were fights against women’s discrimination, and I want to thank the people who worked hard getting the rights.
Enactment of Title Ⅸ is the turning point of female education. For establish this law, many people worked hard such as Bernice Sandler, Patsy Mink, and Birch Bayh. Especially, Bernice Sandler is called “Godmother of Title IX” who fought for women’s rights in education (NWHM). She was a Russian-German American, and able to go on earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Brooklyn College which was New York City’s first liberal arts college that accepted both male and female students (NWHM). She obtained a master’s degree in clinical and school psychology from the City College of New York in 1950 and completed her EdD which in counseling and personnel services from the University of Maryland in1969 (Miller). Just reading this, it seems there was not educational discrimination for female; she got opportunities receive the higher education and got the degrees. However, there were many rejects of enrolling university like Virginia State University rejected 21000 females but no one in male and the School of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University only admitted two women annually in the decades from early 1960s (Miller). When I read this, I learnt there were surely gender discriminations in education. Even if females wanted to enter college/university, they didn’t get the chance, and they might not know why they were rejected. I’m make sure that there were many smarter females who were rejected than approved males. Although she had the EdD, Sandler faced hiring discrimination as full-time employment, so she researched the law, Title Ⅶ of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and learnt that women were excluded, especially in educational both opportunity and hiring, and she decided to become an activist in the fight against sex discrimination in higher education (Fisher 3). It was sad that she wrote about sex discrimination, “Such discrimination against half of our citizens is wasteful and shameful, but it is all legal” (Sandler). I can imagine how disappointed she was. However, she continued research and learnt that the footnote stated that Executive Order 11246 had recently been amended to cover sex discrimination by Executive Order 11375, 13 October 1967, and it would affect all American colleges/universities because they had federal contract (Fisher 4). She joined the WEAL, Women’s Equity Action League, and filed the first administrative class-action complaint against all colleges and universities receiving federal contracts in January of 1970 (Fisher 5). WEAL and Sandler got help from Vincent Macaluso, director of the Office for Federal Contract Compliance at the Department of Labor, and other women’s organizations worked for solving sex discriminations (Fisher 5). How tremendous her action; she did most of research as volunteer. Her enthusiasm drove the changing situation step by step. After, she worked with members of Congress as the Educational Specialist for the House of Representatives Special Subcommittee on Education. She soon wrote the first federal policy report in education about discrimination based on gender (NWHM). Finally, in1972, Title Ⅸ enacted and guaranteed females’ rights. Her observations and efforts helped many females who eager to higher education and hiring, of course is helping now and future. Not only do I study here, but also my daughter will start thinking about going to college because she’s going to be in 9th grade this fall, she has many choices of any school or any major she wants to. I’m appreciate her action as a woman and mom of a daughter.
However, there were people, colleges, and universities who didn’t want to gain the female rights of equality at the time. Sandler said as a witness, “Several women whose faculty contracts were not renewed after they protested sex discrimination on their campuses” (Boschert 29). In 1970, Sandler helped organize of the first congressional hearings on sex discrimination in higher education, Section 805 which held by Green, the purpose was for prohibit sex discrimination in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance, but most of Green’s colleagues and the Nixon administration gave it a chilly reception (Boschert 28). The lobbyist for the powerful American Council on Education declined to participate in and said, “There is no sex discrimination in higher education and, besides, it’s not a problem” (Boschert 32). Some Republican congresswomen also had been raising the issue with Nixon’s staff periodically since January 1969, but Nixson’s administration ignored it (Boschert 31). Although Sandler found the Executive Order 11375 which was amended to cover sex discrimination, the order could be changed by any presidential easily, so she thought Section 805 which would fix the problem in Title Ⅶ of the Civil Rights Act was very important to protect all women. I respect Sandler, she continued to fight against the discrimination even the president administration ignored them, and I have a little disdain for the president of the day because he seems to have abdicated his sense of responsibility to all citizens. However, it was not only the presidential administrations oppose, but also the oppose came from a Black woman, Frankie M. Freeman who was the only woman and only Black person on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights at the time, and she countered, “Racism was a bigger problem than sexism” (Boschert 34). Freeman worried that Green’s bill would dilute attention to discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, so she opposed nearly every part of Section 805 with Nixson (Boschert 34). Even Elizabeth Koontz, director of the Women’s Bureau, toed Nixon’s party line (Boschert 34). I felt I’m sorry for that, I understand how difficult to live with discrimination just because they are Black, but that made me surprised, the same woman oppose to the female rights. Sandler and Green continued to work, but unfortunately, Section 805 was never made up (Boschert 36). However, a separate but related bill did pass, the first to prohibit sex discrimination in school admissions, it addressed the elite world of medicine (Boschert 39). This change was the first step, and they worked harder to establish the law guaranteed with female rights. Though they faced many difficulties and opponents, they didn’t give up, and finally enacted the Title Ⅸ on June 23,1972.
The beginning of 1970s, many females had been taken away their chances and own rights in many situations like hiring and education. Those sufferings led females to pursue their freedom, and Women’s Liberation Movement occurred. They fought against discrimination and old values of gender norms and expectations. The one of sex discriminations was in educational field, especially in higher education; females had faced the inequality of enrollment and hiring. The enactment of Title Ⅸ which is the federal law has guaranteed the right to education free from sex discrimination in 1972 was the one of victories which females beat the sex discrimination. Although people who wanted to make this change faced many opponents from the president administration and even from the same women, they never gave up and got the rights. Thanks for this law, the female rate of enrolling college/university became higher, and the rate of female and men was turned over in 1980s. And now, we can choose any college/university and any major what we want to learn. Even if my major, architecture, is still a men’s field, the situation is changing little by little. Not only in educational field, but also in the actual worksite, female numbers become increase. Women can make their dreams come true. I hope the positive change will continue and educational freedom guaranteed forever.
Work Cited
Boschert, Sherry. “Congress 1970-1972”, 37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination. The New Press, 2022.
Congressional Research Service (CRS). “The Summery of H.R.11149 – Women’s Educational Equity Act”, Library of Congress, 29 October 1973
Dow, Bonnie J.. Watching Women’s Liberation 1970: Feminism’s Pivotal Year on the Network News, University of Illinois Press, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central,
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/lwtclearningcommons-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3414403.
Fisher, Leslee A. “Too Strong for a Woman, Bernice Sandler and the Birth of Title IX”, Junctures in Women’s Leadership: Higher Education. Rutgers University Press, 2020. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=64031fbf-0870-3613-82b5-7a84c873d872.
King, Brittany. “Women’s Rights Movements | Overview, Influence & Timeline”, 21 November 2023
Women’s Rights Movements | Overview, Influence & Timeline – Lesson | Study.com
Miller, Natalie. “Too Strong for a Woman: How Bernice Sandler Created Title IX to Break Barriers for Female Faculty in Higher Education.” History Teacher, vol. 54, no. 1, Nov. 2020, pp. 131–53. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=a8ba6602-2a5c-36b4-82f0-4ee6ba54a114.
National Center for Education Statistics. “The Educational Progress of Women”, THE CONDITION OF EDUCATION 1995, U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement, November 1995
https://nces.ed.gov/pubs/96768.pdf
National Women’s History Museum (NWHM). “Biography: Bernice Sandler.” Biography: Bernice Sandler, https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/bernice-sandler
Sandler, Bernice. “Women in Higher Education: What Constitutes Equity?”, Vital Speeches of the Day, vol. 38, no. 17, June 1972, p. 532. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=e205d333-092d-3605-b96b-29b931bac994.
Wikipedia contributors. “Title IX.” Wikipedia, 22 Jan. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_IX.
