Title IX seminar sheds new light on old amendment
By Emily Hubbell, Campus Life writer
May 6, 2007 | 11:42 a.m.
Many students associate the amendment Title IX with equity in athletics, but at last Wednesday's seminar, “Celebrating Equity: 35 Years of Title IX,” the amendment took on a more comprehensive meaning.
“Title IX receives lots of press in relation to sports but receives very little recognition for the other impacts it has had on society,” Diane Bouvier, a Herstory Committee member, said.
With this imbalance in mind, Bouvier, Judith Daso, Lee Robbins and Mary Lee Powell of the Herstory Committee organized a panel to discuss the effects of Title IX on “salary, equity, employment and leadership opportunities for women and academic climate changes” at Ohio University.
Making history
Title IX states that “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.” It was passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. In that same year, OU created its Affirmative Action office to promote the new policy.
Still, the university did not start experiencing repercussions of the amendment until the mid-1970s.
According to the first panelist, William Smith, executive assistant to the president for institutional equality, female professors in the fine arts school realized that they were “not being paid equally” to men in the same department during the 1979-1980 school year.
With pressure from female teachers on the rise, the university held its first Salary Equity Study. The study’s data produced a significant difference between a male’s and female’s salary, which was eventually reconciled through “retroactive lump sum payments for women,” Smith said.
More recently, the university began to look at the number of women enrolled in science and engineering programs. The “underrepresented data” found has led to some changes in the recruitment of students for these programs. Smith assured that the university would not have had pressure to look at these opportunities before Title IX legislation.
A higher title than “Mrs.”
Although salary adjustment solved the most logistic part of the battle for equity, panelists Nancy Bain, geography chair, and Christine Sheets, assistant vice president for auxiliary services, stressed the everyday struggles that still existed for women at OU.
Bain began her portion of the seminar by describing the climate she encountered when first arriving at Ohio University. She explained that between 1971 and 1973, the university underwent a budget crisis resulting in job loss for many untenured professors. With the help of Title IX, however, many women like Bain kept their jobs.
As Bain became the first female geography chair, she found it difficult for “women to be regarded as males in traditionally male areas.” In one particular instance, Bain noticed that students addressed her as “Mrs.” rather than “Dr.,” but found it natural to address male professors as doctors. Bain added jokingly that she would have liked to answer to a higher title than “Mrs.”
Likewise, Sheets found the most difficulties with equity in a professional setting. “You feel like you need to push to the next level,” she said in reference to being a female in a professional career.
In her 21 years at OU, Sheets has been motivated by women who have worked their way up from classified to administrative job positions with the help of Title IX legislation.
Scheduled to appear as the fourth panelist of the night was Joyice Childs of Enterprise Application Solutions. Although she was unable to attend at the last minute, her presence was felt at the event. In a short written piece read by moderator Bouvier, Childs described her sister Diane’s struggle with becoming a painter during a period when women were still expected to fill traditional female occupational roles. Diane went on to become the first woman working in the maintenance shops here, but not without being subjected to verbal discrimination.
Childs’ piece also recounted her own experiences with discrimination while seeking employment. After being secretary to the provost for 13 years, Childs obtained a degree and began searching for another job. During the search, though, some employers told Childs that her experience as a secretary was a drawback.
The seminar closed with a brief ceremony in honor of Smith, who will retire from his position this summer. He received a plaque and a standing ovation for his work with women’s equity on campus. Smith, who was instrumental in OU’s first equity study, said that he was most proud of the work he has done “to promote opportunities for women.”
Building a community
Following the seminar, audience members voiced strong opinions on the importance of Title IX in a Q&A session and at the reception in the Women’s Center in Baker.
One women’s studies professor explained that many students in her introductory courses did not understand the full meaning of Title IX.
“I really liked how the speakers didn’t only talk about athletics in Title IX,” senior Crystal Joens said. “When the audience member said that much of her women’s history class only appreciated Title IX for its athletic content, I realized that I was probably one of those people before the seminar.”
“I think the entire campus ought to be here,” mechanical engineering professor Carole Womeldorf said. “What Bill [Smith] said about getting to the point where we value diversity is largely a numbers game.”
Athens County resident Emily VanDoren Bush started a Women’s Center at OU that lasted for seven years. She enjoyed hearing the history of Title IX during the panel, but thought Childs’ experiences to be the most realistic of the night.
For others, the impact of Title IX hits close to home. Ellen Gagliano remembers her mother’s involvement in the fight for equal pay in the school of music. A teacher at Athens High School, Gagliano added that not all female teachers in the school of music made a stand against their unequal wages like her mother did.
“I thought the discussion was very moving and reminds us that there’s still work to be done,” Gagliano said. “There’s an ongoing process here that people don’t understand.”
According to Smith, the percent of full-time female faculty at OU rose from roughly 15 percent to 36 percent between 1980 and 2006. Similarly, women accounted for about 33 percent of administrators in 1980. This number has risen to approximately 50 percent today.
As for the university as a whole, Smith concluded, “We’ve done well with what we’ve got, but can and should do better.”
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To read more about Title IX, visit this Web site.