Congressional Representative Patsy Takemoto Mink co-authored Title IX legislation, and led on education and justice
“Discrimination against women in education is one of the most insidious forms of prejudice extant in our nation.” — Representative Patsy T. Mink
Written by shift7, published here with permission
Patsy Mink, born in 1927 in Hāmākua Poko in the Hawaii Territory, showed exceptional determination and skill throughout her life: she graduated first in her high school class, she was the first Japanese American woman to practice law in the Hawaiian Territory, and in 1964 she became the first woman of color and the first Asian American woman elected to the U.S. Congress.¹ She served 12 terms in the House of Representatives in two phases: 1965–1977 and from 1989 until she passed away in September 2002. In between, served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs from 1977–78 and on the Honolulu City Council in Hawaii from 1983–87.²
In Congress, Rep. Mink focused on equal access to opportunity and the fulfillment of human rights for all.³ She sponsored legislation for bilingual education, early childhood education, student loans, special education, and more.⁴
In 1967, she introduced “the first national comprehensive child care bill to provide not just custodial care but educational development to pre-school-age children of all economic backgrounds.”⁵ This served as the start of the legislative process in the U.S. House of Representatives on child care. Lawmakers are still fighting today for child care bills in Congress.
In 1970, she vigorously opposed the nomination of G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court, calling it “an affront to the women of America,” and asserting, “It is not possible for me to dismiss remarks made by Judge Carswell when he was 28 years old stating his irrevocable belief in white supremacy.”⁶ She also reminded the country during his Congressional hearing, “The Supreme Court is the final guardian of our human rights. We must rely totally upon its membership to sustain the basic values of our society. I do not believe that the addition of Judge Carswell to this Court will enhance this guardianship.”⁷ Carswell’s nomination was defeated, and Nixon’s next nominee, Justice Harry Blackmun, was appointed to the Court, and would come to write the majority opinion in the Roe v. Wade victory three years later.⁸
Rep. Mink was also a longtime critic of nuclear testing in the Pacific, and in 1971, in an effort to stop an underground test in the Aleutian Islands off of Alaska, she requested government documents “believed to show that five agencies recommended canceling the test.”⁹ The White House denied this request, which led her to sue the Environmental Protection Agency along with 32 other Members of Congress under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).¹⁰ The case was lost in the Supreme Court in 1973, but Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii said in his 2002 memorial address for Rep. Mink that provisions of the case ruling were “cited as precedent by the U.S. Supreme Court in its ruling for the release of the Watergate tapes.”¹¹
The work for which Rep. Mink would become most well-known was Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.¹² This amendment aimed to close a loophole in Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which had excluded sex as a protected class in federally funded public and private entities. Rep. Mink worked closely with Congresswomen Edith Green and Shirley Chisholm, as well as Senator Birch Bahn, for several months to build support for this legislation while the House and Senate debated differences between their versions. Title IX passed on June 8, 1972, with the purpose defined as:
“Congress enacted Title IX with two principal objectives in mind: to avoid the use of federal resources to support discriminatory practices in education programs, and to provide individual citizens effective protection against those practices.”¹³
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces Title IX, and their guidance is available here.
Some of Title IX’s greatest impacts have included requiring schools to provide equitable sports opportunities, and to protect students from sexual harassment and sexual violence, including by investigating complaints. All school districts, colleges, and universities receiving federal funds are legally required to designate Title IX coordinators.¹⁴
While Title IX may be settled law, the implementation of that law is still being debated. In November 2018, the Department of Education proposed rule changes, in response to which more than 100,000 public comments were submitted, which are currently under review.
Rep. Mink had another significant education related legislative success: the Women’s Educational Equity Act in 1974, which “provided $30 million a year in educational funds for programs to promote gender equity in schools, to increase educational and job opportunities for women, and to excise gender stereotypes from textbooks and school curricula.”¹⁵
She continued to work for equal opportunity and human rights for all throughout her career. In 1997, on the 25th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, she reminded Congress, “Equal educational opportunities for women and girls is essential for us to achieve parity in all aspects of our society.”¹⁶
Along with many others including Representatives Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm, and author Gloria Steinem, Rep. Mink was also a founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus, “a multi-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to increasing women’s participation in the political process. NWPC recruits, trains and supports pro-choice women candidates for elected and appointed offices at all levels of government.”¹⁷
Full details of Representative Mink’s significant career in Congress are shared in her Biography on the U.S. House of Representatives History, Art and Archive website.
After her death in 2002, the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act was officially renamed the “Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act” for her leadership in co-sponsoring it while in the House of Representatives.¹⁸
In 2003, her family founded the Patsy Takemoto Mink Foundation in her honor, an education foundation for low-income women and children.¹⁹
In 2014, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously, the nation’s highest civilian honor.²⁰ In response, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell echoed a sentiment that many share: “There is no question that Patsy Takemoto Mink earned it with a lifetime of passion and hard work.”²¹
“It is easy enough to vote right and be consistently with the majority. But it is more often more important to be ahead of the majority, and this means being willing to cut the first furrow in the ground and stand alone for a while if necessary.” — Rep. Patsy Mink, 1975
Visit Patsy’s story in person:
- Paia, Hawaii (birthplace)
- Patsy Mink Post Office — Paia, Hawaii
- Library of Congress — Washington, DC: home of the Patsy Mink Papers — nearly 900,000 items from her political career and personal life.²²
- Patsy Mink Center for Business & Leadership — Honolulu, Hawaii
- Statue of Patsy Mink at the Hawaii State Public Library — Honolulu, Hawaii
Discover:
- National Women’s Political Caucus
- A Tribute to Congresswoman Patsy Mink
- “Happy Birthday, Title IX” (Library of Congress)
Watch:
Archives
- Patsy T. Mink Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
- Patsy T. Mink Memorabilia Collection, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii
- Patsy Mink Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Wichita State University Libraries, Wichita, Kansas
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