Ellen Gerber grew up in Brooklyn, New York, during the 1930s and 1940s in what she describes as a "typical middle class Jewish American" family. Gerber explains that she was influenced by liberal politics and the expectation that she would have a career despite her gender. In the 1960s, Gerber received a doctorate in physical education and spent a number of years teaching in northern colleges and writing books about the history of physical education and women in sports. In 1972, following the passage of Title IX, she toured college campuses to speak about implementing this measure for women's athletics. In so doing, she became increasingly convinced that legal change offered the most viable route for achieving gender equality, and in 1974 she enrolled in law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gerber describes what it was like to be an "older" woman in law school during the mid-1970s and talks about her goals to help women with her law degree. Following her graduation, Gerber was hired by Legal Aid, where she worked for fifteen years before retiring. She describes how her own role evolved in Legal Aid after she became the managing attorney in 1980, and she discusses the impact of federal budgeting on legal service for the poor in North Carolina under the administrations of Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush. In addition, Gerber speaks at length about women's issues, ranging from her own motivations for advocating for women's equality and her participation in such organizations as the North Carolina Association for Women Attorneys.