Northbrook Library Event Looks At Title IX Through Local Author's Lens

NORTHBROOK, IL ­– In the 50 years since Title IX legislation was passed seemingly providing more equity for women, progress has been made. But given many of the inequities that still exist today for women — both inside of sports and out — the inroads that the federal law set to create aren’t as developed as many would have hoped.

Melissa Isaacson, a former Chicago Tribune sports reporter who chronicled the Chicago Bulls' meteoric rise through the NBA in the 1990s, is a product of Title IX but also experienced some of the inequity that continued to exist in the years after the passage of the legislation in 1972. In 1975, Isaacson was a freshman at Niles West and was part of a girls' basketball team that fought through the challenges of the time and went on to win a state championship in 1979.

Isaacson, who now teaches at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, has participated in conversations about her connection to Title IX in the three years since her book “State” was released in 2019. She will be part of an event at the Northbrook Library at 7 p.m. on Oct. 22.

The event is free and will include a book signing and conversation with Isaacson, who says that a time when women continue to be at the center of several critical issues heading into the upcoming mid-term elections, the time for conversations about the inequities that continue to exist could not be better.

“We’re at this point in history when we would think we would be much farther along in terms of gender equity,” Isaacson told Patch on Friday. “…But, wow, as the mid-terms approach, things for women and for our daughters and for the future are not necessarily in such solid shape as we would have hoped 50 years ago. So, for not-so-good reasons, we’re still talking about it, but it’s a good thing that the conversation is still taking place.”

Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any education program that receives federal funding. While the legislation aimed to make things fairer for women primarily at the college level who participated in athletics and other endeavors, Isaacson said there are still too many instances of major universities – including at the Big Ten level — padding numbers that make it seem like women’s programs so that they don’t have to devote as many financial resources to women’s sports.

Isaacson also oversaw the planning of an upcoming three-day forum of events focusing on Title IX and other women's issues that will be held at Northwestern. The event is open to the public and includes a host of national pundits and experts who have had a variety of experiences since Title IX became law.

Other inequities both in pay and in the treatment and female athletes in soccer and in professional basketball have also grabbed major headlines. The fact that such inequities are still taking place, Isaacson said, makes it critical for people to be aware of what’s happening and that not as much progress has been made over the past five decades as some may think.

She said many people don’t realize that some schools continue to not comply with Title IX and that the college landscape is fraught with violations of the law, which she said has spurred some interesting conversations at events she has participated in similar to the one coming up in Northbrook.

“There will be middle-aged women and they will just look at you and you know that they know exactly what you’re talking about,” Isaacson said. “Some of them, I will just look at them and just know – even before they speak – that they came about just before Title IX came about and that they didn’t have some of these opportunities and how that affected and impacted their lives. So, it’s extremely powerful.”

Isaacson’s book is now being used in classrooms as required reading for freshmen students at schools like Glenbrook North, where Isaacson’s children graduated from. Despite the story that Isaacson tells taking place in the 1970s, the story still resonates and provides a powerful message and themes that she says that students coming up through high school need to know about.

Isaacson said while she didn’t target a specific audience when she wrote “State”, the fact it has reached and affected a variety of people has proven to be one of the most rewarding aspects of the project. The story is also being discussed as a television series — none of which Isaacson planned on when she first began writing.

“I think (the book) speaks to a lot of different issues that are going on right now,” she said. “It’s not a timely kind of book and in some ways, it’s sadly evergreen, but in some ways, it’s great that it’s evergreen.”