“You Come On Too Strong for a Woman”

By Deborah Jo Sandler

My mother, Dr. Bernice Sandler (“Bunny”), was a crusader for women’s rights. By the time she died in 2019, she was known as “The Godmother of Title IX,” a small but mighty piece of legislation that revolutionized how girls and women were treated in academe, and in athletics. Although she never became a lawyer, her impact on the law as it affects women’s rights was enormous.

Bunny was born in Brooklyn, just before the Great Depression. Although neither of her parents attended college, Bunny was encouraged to excel in school. She loved research and writing. Sex discrimination was widespread and legal. As a young girl, she was not allowed to clean the erasers, open the windows or fill the inkwells because she was a girl, and she resented it. Though she graduated with high honors, she was expected to stay home. She married my father in the early 1950s and then my sister and I were born. My mother was quiet and conscientious, working as a nursery school teacher, guitar teacher and caring for her daughters. On the surface, she seemed like all the other quiet women: relegated to the house and denied interesting or high-paying work because they were women.

When my sister and I were older, Bunny got her Doctorate in Counseling from the University of Maryland. She had to convince the depart- ment to let her in because they rarely accepted women. She planned to become a professor, having done extremely well in the program. However, she was rejected for every job. One interviewer said they didn’t hire women because women have to stay home when their kids are sick (my sister and I were in high school at the time). Another told her she was “just a housewife who went back to school.” One told her she didn’t need the job because she was married. When she asked a colleague why no one would hire her, she was told “Let’s face it, Bunny – you come on too strong for a woman.”

Bunny went home and cried. She blamed herself. My father asked her, “Are there any strong men in your department?” She said, “Of course there are.” My father replied, “Then it isn’t you. This is sex discrimination.”

Bunny was shocked, but she realized he was right. Then she got mad. Being an excellent researcher, she assumed sex discrimination in education was illegal, and she started researching it so she could do something about it. Bunny was dismayed to discover that sex discrimination in academe was legal. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 exempted professional and educational women. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 excluded employees of educational institutions. Title VI of the Civil

Rights Act of 1964 protected against discrimination based on race, color and national origin, but not sex. The Fourteenth Amendment had never been considered applicable to sex discrimination.

Bunny read further and found a report regarding enforcement of civil rights legislation, which had an obscure Executive Order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating based on race, color, religion and national origin. She found a footnote in the order, and literally shrieked aloud. The order had been amended to outlaw discrimination based on sex for institutions receiving federal funding. She realized at that moment that most colleges and universities had federal contracts, so this Executive Order could be used to fight sex discrimination in academe.

Bunny joined the Women’s Equity Action League (WEAL) and became Chair of the “Federal Action Contract Compliance Committee.” With Bunny’s help, WEAL filed the first administrative class action complaint in 1970 against all colleges and universities that had federal contracts. Following that milestone, my mother filed administrative charges of sex discrimination against about 250 colleges and universities. Other women’s organizations began filing charges.

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