"Women need not apply."\nIt was those four words that convinced former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh to change America. \nThey say behind every powerful man is a great woman and Bayh, an IU School of Law alumnus and Indiana native, knows this to be true. His wife, Marvella, had been like his campaign manager. Marvella, the daughter of a wheat farmer, already had a list of achievements when she met Birch in December of 1951. In Oklahoma, she was a straight "A" student, the first female president of her student body, governor of Oklahoma Girls' State, president of Girls' Nation and had met President Truman.\n"It was love at first sight," said Bayh, now 78.\nMarvella thought she could do it all. That is, until she was confronted with four words -- "Women need not apply."\nEven with all of her accomplishments, she had been rejected by the Virginia School of Law, a school her son, Evan, would later attend.\nIt was at that moment that Birch Bayh understood the inequalities of the world for women.\n"As we went through life together, it increased my awareness of the way men say and do things that aren't consistent with everyone being treated equal," he said.\nDecades later in 1972, as a U.S. senator, Birch Bayh seized his opportunity to make a difference by submitting the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act -- a law that would change the face of collegiate athletics by prohibiting gender discrimination.\nFemale participation in intercollegiate athletics has increased from fewer than 30,000 athletes in 1972 to more than 150,000 female athletes in 2002, according to a study by the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education. Athletic budgets have increased for women's sports from 2 percent to 43 percent, according to the study. And people such as Cheryl Miller, Mia Hamm, Jackie Joyner-Kersey and Sheryl Swoopes are all household names -- something that might not have happened if it weren't for Title IX.\nThe effects of the law are still felt today. Last year with 880 wins, University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt surpassed North Carolina coaching great Dean Smith as the all-time winningest NCAA basketball coach.\nStill, none of this might have been possible had government not opened up its eyes.
REMOVING THE HURDLES\nBirch Bayh has a lot to be proud of: He is a three-term Democratic senator in a traditionally "red" state, an author of two constitutional amendments and father of former Indiana governor and current U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh. One of Bayh's few regrets, though, was never being able to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposal meant to equalize society for women.\nWhen he was having hearings on the ERA, Bayh had former Rep. Shirley Chisolm speak.\n"I'll always remember what she said to me," Bayh said. "She told me, 'I have been discriminated a lot in life for being black, but nothing compares to my experiences as a woman.'"\nWhen the ERA fell short by only three states, Bayh was determined to still do something. He worked with former Rep. Patsy Mink to make at least one area equal for women -- athletics.\n"I just always thought that you can't ignore 53 percent of the brainpower of America," he said.\n Bayh would argue sports goes beyond play on the field. Academics and life lessons are the real bulk of the issue, he says. \n"There are a number of benefits that are accrued to young men and young women who participate in sports: better health, more self-esteem, higher academic performance, decreased use of alcohol and drugs, fewer teen pregnancies," Bayh said. "In addition to the athletic scholarships, it's also providing education that otherwise could be unaffordable. I was at the women's Final Four banquet in Indianapolis and I don't know how many women came up to me and said, 'I don't know how I could afford college, if it wasn't for sports.' It was pretty moving."
SETBACKS AND \nSHOT-BLOCKING\nNot everyone thinks Title IX works, though. Complaints include budgetary issues and accusations of a quota system.\nDespite the fact women's sports receive 36 percent fewer collegiate athletic scholarships than men's, many claim women's sports kill an athletic department's budget because women's sports bring in less money.\nStill, Bayh said he thinks it's a faulty premise to blame financial problems on Title IX.\n"If you can't afford to pay for it, close down the athletic systems," Bayh said.\nAnother argument that bothers Bayh is when people claim Title IX is a quota system.\nSam Bell, president of the U.S. Track Coaches Association and former IU cross country coach, wrote in The Los Angeles Times:\n"They will say the same thing that the coaches do in their lawsuit -- Title IX is a terrific law that has been turned on its head by the addition of a bureaucratic quota provision. Get rid of that one dreadful element and restore the law to its original intent."\nBayh said arguments such as those are completely wrong and are usually confused with affirmative action, which used to employ quota systems.\nBayh also disagrees with the idea that more men are interested in sports.\n"How do we know that until we have an equal opportunity? If you haven't had an opportunity to play, how would you know?\n"Try telling a father watching his daughter play soccer that nobody cares about women's sports," Bayh said.\nMost recently, Title IX came under attack as a high school women's basketball coach was fired for whistle-blowing about the lack of equality at his school. Bayh wrote a brief supporting the coach and the Supreme Court said that schools should be held accountable when they don't meet Title IX's standards.. \n"Indeed, if retaliation were not prohibited, Title IX's enforcement scheme would unravel," wrote former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in the decision.\nSenior Lynn Perry, a member of IU's Women's Student Association, said the act must remain because it forces schools to look beyond dollars in athletics.\n"The average high school and university only has two sports that make a profit: men's football and men's basketball," Perry said. "Without Title IX, women's programs could easily be cut because they aren't money makers. Instead, women are able to play for the love of the sport."
THE FUTURE OF WOMEN'S SPORTS\nWith a 403 percent increase in women's intercollegiate \nathletic participation in the last 20 years -- according to the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education -- the future for women's sports is bright. Still, the study gave gender equity in athletics a grade of "C+" because progress for necessary changes has been slow.\nStill, Bayh said he appreciates how much better things are nowadays. He was the 5,500th season ticket holder for the WNBA's Indiana Fever -- helping it reach the league minimum in its first season.\nAt an awards presentation by the YouthLink Organization in Indianapolis, Bayh, along with Olympian Joyner-Kersee, were presented with awards by Fever coach Nell Fortner.\n"This very tall, blonde, beautiful woman looked down on me and she thanked me for Title IX," Bayh said. "She was telling me how she came from a poor family in Texas and that athletics gave her opportunity to afford college.\n"I just started to think, 'Birch Bayh, you might have had something to do with helping someone, to take the hurdles out of the way and let them run the track uninhibited."
