With March marking both March Madness and Women’s History Month, it’s a fitting time to look back at how far women’s sports have come since President Richard Nixon signed Title IX into law on June 23, 1972, as part of the Education Amendments of 1972.

But, though many know Title IX best as the law that increased women’s participation in school sports, that result was in some ways a happy accident.

“Sports wasn’t really discussed or considered much at all when Congress was considering the Title IX bill or when it enacted the law,” says Margaret Dunkle, who as a researcher in the 1970s helped bring that result to fruition.