How Patsy Mink Led the Push for Title IX

Growing up in Maui, Patsy Takemoto Mink was in awe of the family physician and his ability to care for patients in their times of need. So she set out on a path to become a doctor, graduating with a premed degree from the University of Hawaii, even being elected president of its premedical student club.

But when she applied to medical schools, she was turned down by every single one. Some rejection letters specifically stated that it was because she was a woman. That experience fueled Mink’s future political career—and her successful push for gender equality in federal spending in the form of Title IX.

Instead of being pushed to the sidelines, the third-generation Asian American (her grandparents had immigrated from Japan) pivoted. She applied to and attended the University of Chicago Law School, where she was one of two women to graduate in 1951. Then, she became the first Japanese American woman to practice law in Hawaii. 

That wasn’t enough: Mink was so passionate about fighting for equality that she won a Hawaii State Senate seat in 1962, and two years later became elected the first woman of color to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and first Asian American woman in Congress.

But her greatest legacy was authoring and championing Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, the civil rights law signed by Richard Nixon on June 23, 1972. The law prohibits discrimination based on gender in education and activities receiving financial assistance from the national government. 

“Title IX has been renamed for Patsy Mink after her passing, not only because she helped to pass the legislation but also because she defended Title IX from subsequent attacks and efforts to dilute its impact,” says Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, associate dean and professor at the University of California, Irvine, co-author of Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress.

On the 30th anniversary of the passing of Title IX—and the year of her death in 2002, at the age of 74—Mink reminded Americans that “we need to be eternally vigilant to protect our rights.” 

Title IX states simply in 37 words: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

The act protects Americans not just from the gender discrimination Mink faced during her own educational pursuits, but also through any federally funded programs, like libraries, museums and other organizations that may receive grants, loans or any sort of financial benefits from the government. But its educational influence is its greatest, as it encompasses all public schools and universities.

Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination of any capacity, including harassment, violence and even dress code violations, as well as pregnancy discrimination and failure to offer equal opportunities in athletics and any academic programs.  

During her time at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,  Mink had been forced to live in a segregated dorm with other students of color. Despite her short time there—as she ended up transferring back to the University of Hawaii after requiring thyroid surgery—she initiated a campaign to end the school's segregated housing policy. By the time she left, the policy had been eliminated and housing options became available to students of all ethnic backgrounds. “Patsy Mink advocated for comprehensive gender equity and non-discrimination for all of her adult life,” her only daughter Gwendolyn (Wendy) Mink, who co-authored the book with Wu, tells HISTORY.com. She adds that in the 1950s, her mother fought against “ascriptive barriers to women’s and girls’ opportunities in employment and education, worked legislatively for equal pay for women and challenged gender-tracking of children’s education,” among other initiatives. 

So when she entered Congress in January 1965, Patsy Mink focused her efforts on educational gender equity. Starting with sex-based exclusions in vocational education and curriculum materials, by the late 1960s, her work turned to “fashioning bills and legislative language to make gender equity and non-discrimination a core principle of federally funded programs, including education,” explains Wendy Mink, who is a political scientist and historian.

That was the foundation that eventually became Title IX. “She and allies modeled their language on the anti-race discrimination provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that addressed education specifically and federal programs generally,” Wendy Mink adds.

Despite making her way into the powerful halls of Congress, getting legislation passed was anything but simple, especially as a woman and a minority. She was a member of the Committee for Education and Labor and helped advocate for the national day care program Head Start, as well as the Women’s Educational Equity Act.  Yet there wasn’t even equality within government as female members weren’t allowed access to the gym facilities that were meant for all congressional members. 

Discriminatory policies on the hill forced Mink to find her allies. She teamed up with fellow female members Charlotte Reid of Illinois and Catherine May of Washington in 1967 to protest the gym’s “members only” signage excluding them.

While there was a budding feminist movement at the time, women were immensely outnumbered. Of the 435 House members, only 13 were women—and not all of them women’s rights activists, Wendy Mink points out. As a result, Mink allied with other like-minded female colleagues when she could.

One of her collaborators was Edith Green of Oregon, who had initially proposed amendments to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for gender equality. During those hearings in 1970, Mink argued, “Discrimination against women in education is one of the most insidious forms of prejudice extant in our nation. Few people realize the extent to which our society is denied full use of our human resources because of this type of discrimination.” But it failed to pass.

Working with Green, as well as Birch Bayh of Indiana, Mink took the lead on the legislation that would come to be known as Title IX. The greatest struggle was finding the right words to encompass all the necessary anti-discrimination policies.

Ultimately, since it was part of the bigger educational bill that included other hot topics like desegregation busing and student aid, it passed fairly smoothly in 1972. However, a few years later in 1975, controversies arose regarding its enforcement.

Carve-outs of all kinds were proposed, from STEM male honorary societies to father-son days at schools. But it was its application to athletics that stoked the most dispute. Programs and schools protested the need for equal treatment of men’s and women’s sports, particularly with college football, as the male athletic teams and their supporters rallied for exceptions. It was that early uproar that has made Title IX so associated with sports today.

While her political influence—including a 1972 run for the presidency—helped Mink turn so much of her advocacy into action, she is best known as a “bridge feminist”—both a major voice in the grassroots and social movement, as well as actually affecting legislative policy. 

Besides Title IX being renamed the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act after her 2002 death, Mink was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 2014 by President Barack Obama.

Plus, the next time you pick up a quarter and flip it over, you just might find an image of Mink on the other side. Honored as part of the 2024 American Women Quarters Program, she’s depicted with a lei around her neck standing in front of the U.S. Capitol holding a copy of Title IX and the words of her American legacy inscribed: "Equal opportunity in education.”