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Editor’s Note: Title IX, the landmark legislation that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions, was signed into law on June 23, 1972. To mark this anniversary, we’ll be analyzing the Trojan Title IX trailblazers throughout the year.
As the longest-serving dean of the University of Southern California, Elizabeth M. Daly A professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts has had to address some university practices we now take for granted, including prioritizing equity.
“When I came to USC, there was only one woman in the School of Film Production,” said Daly, who joined the school in 1989 as chair of the film and television production program and then dean in 1991.
Elizabeth Daly of the USC School of Cinematic Arts is USC’s longest-serving dean. (USC Photo/Gus Ruelas)
“I went to my first faculty meeting and I was the only woman in the room besides my assistant. After coming out of the industry, I at least got used to selling to women—even though I knew they had to sell it to Male boss.”
Today, 40 percent of USC’s tenured faculty members are women. The school’s student body is also gender-balanced — even in fields where specialties such as feature film directing and game design still lag behind.
These gains would not have occurred without Title IX concerns, Daly said.
“The beauty of this law is that it acknowledges the fact that discrimination is happening,” she said. “Fifty years ago, there were a lot of people who felt that discrimination didn’t exist, and if it did, it didn’t matter. Something really had to be done, and that was recognized at the federal level.”
Title IX Trail Blazers see lessons from team sports
She noted that Title IX provides girls with more opportunities to participate in team sports, allowing them to “learn the key skills of collaboration and collaboration, which are so important to success in the film arts, as creative work and academic development are highly collaborative.”
Elizabeth Daley with George Lucas, USC President Steven Sapp, Robert Zemeckis, Frank Price and Paul Jung-Witt (from left) in October 2006 Celebrating the rebranding and groundbreaking of the USC School of Cinematic Arts (formerly the School of Film and Television) on the building that now houses the Film School. (Photo/Steve Cohen)
Before coming to USC, Daly was Taper Media Enterprise and producer MGM TV. She has also worked as an independent producer and media consultant.
When IX was signed into law in 1972, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded school or other educational program, Daly had already started her career. In addition to building her resume as a producer, she earned a PhD in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin and BA and MA in Drama from Tulane University.
Possibilities for Title IX Trailblazers
Still, she remembers being ecstatic about the possibilities Title IX could offer women.
“This is the first step against the misogyny we still live with every day,” Daly said of the landmark legislation, noting that women in her mother’s generation were unable to pursue the education or career they wanted.
At the school’s First Pitch event in 2011, Elizabeth Daley shares a moment with faculty member Mary Sweeney (left) and alumna Erin Levy, who mad Men. First Pitch allows student film and television writers to meet one-on-one with representatives from leading agencies, management companies and production companies. (Photo/Courtesy of the USC School of Cinematic Arts)
“My mother wanted to be a lawyer, but didn’t have the chance,” she said, adding that her mother turned to college to become a teacher. “She was the first person to talk about pay discrimination in front of me, and I realised the injustice at a very young age.”
Daley said she has experienced sexism first-hand, an experience she shares with working women around the world.
“I don’t believe anyone told me that if they were women, they had not experienced discrimination,” she said. On one of the projects she made, Daly remembered a male producer saying he didn’t care who she hired as a first assistant director, as long as they weren’t women, because it was too dangerous for women to be in charge of on-set safety. Daly glanced at it and asked the man to say, “Don’t take it personally.”
This event strengthened her determination to succeed.
‘We spent a lot of time making choices’
“Women of our generation, we spend a lot of time making choices,” Daly said. “Sometimes we have to ignore comments because you need to get on with your work. You have to decide if it makes strategic sense to fight for it in that moment. A lot of us get to the point where: ‘They can say what they want to say ; I won’t let them stop me.'”
Daly said her goal now is to ensure that young women at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and future generations, are fully able to earn the promise of Title IX and increase their opportunities in whatever professional pathway they dream of pursuing.
“What Title IX has done is put women in visible roles that you’ve never seen before,” she said. “Title IX is the cornerstone to start fighting these other battles. It’s a big, big building block.”
More about: Movie, film art, diversity, college, television, Article 9
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