[Disclaimer: Lauren Greenberg was speaking in her personal capacity and not for her firm.]

Editor-in-Chief Atul Singh and Lauren Greenberg, the Deputy General Counsel of the Office of General Counsel of White & Case LLP, discuss the evolution of women’s athletics under Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments. Greenberg traces her own journey from founding the first women’s softball team for Dartmouth, New Hampshire, to using the law as a tool for equality. Their conversation explores how sports shape character, how the Title IX civil rights law reshaped opportunity in the United States and what the next frontier for women’s sports may be.

Founding Dartmouth’s softball team

Greenberg’s story begins in 1989, when she arrived at Dartmouth College and discovered that, unlike the men’s teams, there was no varsity softball program for women. Along with classmate Erika Beisler, she set out to build one. They organized players, scheduled games with other Ivy League schools and even took the test to drive the school bus so the team could travel to every “away” match. Dartmouth, she recalls, offered little help, leaving them to act as “both coaches and players.”

Despite these obstacles, the group’s persistence laid the groundwork for change. When institutional support never materialized, Greenberg and her teammates turned to the law that would alter the landscape of women’s sports: Title IX.

Turning to Title IX

Unable to find a pro bono lawyer, Greenberg and her peers researched their options and filed a formal complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Since Dartmouth received federal funding, it was legally bound to comply with Title IX’s requirement of gender equality in education and athletics.

The complaint argued that the college failed to provide proportional opportunities for women’s sports. It was filed in the name of the women’s softball team generally, ensuring that the case would remain active until future students benefited from a fair resolution. The Department’s investigation validated their claims: Dartmouth was found to be out of compliance not just in softball, but in two varsity and several junior varsity sports. The college responded by establishing varsity softball and volleyball programs and expanding women’s athletic opportunities.

That experience, Greenberg says, was pivotal for her. “Filing that complaint and doing all the legwork on that” captivated her and motivated her to become a lawyer.

What Title IX changed

Singh situates their conversation in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, where sport served as pre-military training, cultivating leadership and teamwork among men. Greenberg explains that before the 1960s, both women and people of color faced steep barriers to education and athletics. Women faced restrictions in college admission, and social expectations dictated which sports women could pursue.

Title IX disrupted that order by prohibiting sex discrimination in any educational institution receiving federal funds. Greenberg notes that the statute’s reach goes far beyond athletics — it underpins cases of sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination and violence against women. In sports, its legacy is unmistakable. Nearly 30 years after Dartmouth’s investigation, the softball team boasts championship titles, a shared indoor practice facility with the men’s team and its own stadium.

Life skills and social change

Sports cultivate communication, teamwork and resilience, skills that extend far beyond the field. They teach players how to accept losses, Greenberg says, and how to turn setbacks into lessons. These abilities translate into professional success and leadership.

Asked how Title IX has changed women and society, Greenberg believes its impact has been gradual but profound. The law created a framework for opportunity rather than a complete transformation overnight. “It is a framework that allows for better opportunities and access by women to sports,” she explains. “But they’re still playing a huge catch-up game.” Media exposure, advertising and promotion remain dominated by men’s sports. For true parity, she insists, women’s sports need the same prime-time visibility and endorsement opportunities that have long defined male athletics.

The cultural battle for recognition

When Singh raises the notion that some viewers find women’s sports less exciting, Greenberg pushes back: “That’s applying a men’s standard of what you find exciting.” She argues that fans should recognize the distinctive strategies and pacing of women’s competitions. For example, she prefers women’s soccer because she finds the strategy women employ in the sport to be more interesting.

To her, the issue is not a lack of excitement but a lack of imagination in marketing. If broadcasters promoted women’s sports on their own terms — emphasizing strategic play or teamwork rather than brute spectacle — audiences would gradually shift their tastes. Cultural change, she maintains, can be driven by greater marketing plans that shift the culture more with each passing quarter.

Beyond the market: the next frontier

Singh and Greenberg end on the question of what comes next. Pay equity, media representation and leadership in sports organizations are central goals, but so is the inclusion of less-publicized sports such as gymnastics and synchronized swimming. When Singh points out that markets often favor the lowbrow over the valuable, Greenberg agrees. “The market, per se, is highly imperfect and will always be,” she states. True progress, she believes, depends on new measuring sticks — ones that value social development as much as commercial success.

She also touches on the cultural resistance women face globally, from conservative religious norms to entrenched gender roles. Yet she finds hope in athletes who reconcile faith with participation, like Muslim women competing in hijabs at the Olympics. To her, this synthesis symbolizes the spirit of Title IX itself: expanding the freedom to play, compete and grow.

[Lee Thompson-Kolar edited this piece.]

The views expressed in this article/podcast are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.