45 years ago this summer, Congress passed Title IX, a piece of legislation, 37 little words, that opened the floodgates of opportunity for girls and women across the U.S.

Title IX was supported by both Democrats and Republicans and signed into law by Richard Nixon. It became a federal law that required that girls and women have equal access to sport on campuses across the US. And it was a law that would allow a little girl in Greenville, SC to shed the tomboy moniker and instead become an athlete, just an athlete.

That law, Title IX, has gotten lots of little girls and full-grown women, all across the nation, out of the stands and onto the fields. It’s a law still at work today, supporting students as they address the problems of campus sexual assault. And it is a law that continues to have implications far beyond sports, radiating out to board rooms, court rooms, war rooms and yes, some day even oval rooms.

And that little girl from SC? She grew up to become a business woman, one whose confidence was fueled by sport, and whose company is now named Title Nine.

 

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Missy Park, Founder

 

How did the Title IX legislation change your life?

 

Images courtesy of Game Changers, the unsung heroines of sports history.