The Calvert Commission for Women and Calvert Library celebrated a significant and often overlooked milestone in U.S. history Monday, June 25. A panel of individuals whose lives have been impacted by the measure known as “Title IX” discussed the evolvement of the statute that is perhaps best known for its impact on high school and college sports programs. The discussion took place at the Calvert Library in Prince Frederick as part of the county’s celebration of 40th year of the law’s enactment.
Title IX states “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.”
“Title IX is much more than athletics,” said Margaret Dunkle, the current chair of the Calvert Commission for Women. Dunkle was recently inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame for her roles with the American College’s Project on the Status and Education of Women and as the first chair of the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education.
“Sports was not considered to be the changing aspect of the law,” said Dunkle. Nevertheless, she said the revealed disparity in amount of funds schools were allocating for boys sports programs vs. girls’ sports (about 98 percent for the males and 2 percent for women) “propelled Title IX to the front pages.”
Three of the panelists spoke about the obstacles they had to overcome in a male-dominated world. Calvert County Commissioner Susan Shaw [R] spoke about having to compete with a male high school classmate for a coveted scholarship. Despite her excellent grades, Shaw lost out to her male counterpart, who ended up attending Harvard. Several years later, Shaw met the male student at a class reunion. Shaw said he admitted it was his feeling that he would be awarded the grant because he was a male.
“My mother was a suffragette,” said Gladys Bowers of Solomons, who indicated rebellion was in her blood. She joined the U.S. Marine Corps out of high school. Even though the Korean War was underway, Bowers stated because she was a woman the corps wouldn’t send her to a combat zone. The jobs she held stateside usually involved her being assigned to train a male to do a job she had no chance of getting for herself. “There were all sorts of things throughout my working career,” said Bowers.
Calvert County Public Schools Executive Director of Administration Kim Roof indicated Title IX was just beginning to have impact when she attended high school in the mid-1970s. After lettering in three sports she went to High Point Univer
