Title IX, passed almost 44 years ago, paved the way for exponential growth in the participation of women and girls in college and high school athletics, putting their opportunities and benefits almost level with males’. But the law does not apply to professional sports leagues, where the gap is huge between women (average WNBA salary: $75,000) and men (NBA average: $4.5 million).
That’s not entirely a bad thing, in that it encourages women to stay in school, get a degree, and pursue a profession — meanwhile, using the lessons of teamwork, perseverance, and confidence they learned in sports to help them along the way.
Alison Bernal and Jill Deering are two women who followed that path. They took part in a panel discussion in front of 400 female athletes who attended Monday’s 30th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day Luncheon sponsored by the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table. Both women are in the legal profession, Bernal as a litigator and Deering as an in-house counsel.