It is often quite difficult for a younger generation to understand the experiences and expectations of their parents. So many young adults today are unaware or unable to comprehend the impact the Civil Rights Movement had on the United States. The time was not so long ago and yet many women could not possibly dream of a time when they were so severely discriminated against. Universities and colleges throughout the country either outright excluded women or accepted very few for admission as they upheld biased quotas. The numbers were appalling and even the most selective schools were the biggest discriminators. Women were drastically underrepresented in colleges and universities across the country. Their percentages for earned degrees never reached much higher than 50% by 1970. Women were not considered acceptable applicants for Master and Doctor's degrees due to an ingrained notion of inferiority. A pregnant woman was hardly ever considered a creditable applicant for admission to higher education. The two spheres were thought to be totally incompatible. Women were repeatedly discouraged by what some would consider blatant discrimination, in education found in nearly every school on the elementary, high school, and college levels when no support system existed to promote greater sports participation. Their capacity for achievement and success was never a consideration and a subservient ideology remained entrenched in society. The capabilities that women possessed were not recognized and certainly any athletic ability was an absurd idea.