Former senator Birch Bayh, the author of two major constitutional amendments as well as legislation that dramatically improved women’s rights in classrooms and on athletic fields, died March 14 at his home in Easton, Md. He was 91.

Mr. Bayh co-wrote what would have been the 27th Amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment, prescribing equal treatment of women in all fields. Congress approved it in 1972. Sensing that the measure might sink because of opposition in state legislatures — ultimately, it did — Mr. Bayh produced Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments. It banned gender discrimination in schools receiving federal support.