Patsy Mink is gathering a coalition to enforce Title IX
PATSY MINK. Had you heard of her? I had not. Yet another reason we must seek out women in history, as they are pushed to the side by archivists, authors, and storytellers (yet another reason for you to become one of these!).
Patsy Takemoto Mink was not only the first woman of color elected to Congress (Hawaii!), but she fought for "Great Society legislation" in the 1960s, left Congress, then CAME BACK in 1990 when those reforms were being rolled back.
But hold up, let's talk about how inspirational Patsy Takemoto Mink is. Hawaii was given a second seat in the US House, and she mounted a grassroots campaign in 1964 with her husband John as her campaign manager and a bunch of unpaid volunteers. She won. Awesome. She wanted a seat on the Committe on Education and Labor and she got it.
Have you heard of the Comprehensive Child Development Act? It would have instituted a national daycare system, designed partially to make it easier for single parents to work. It was folded into the Economic Opportunity Act and Nixon vetoed it because it had "family-weakening implications."
Her most important coalition was one to support the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, of which she was one of the principal authors and sponsors, prohibiting gender discrimination by federally funded institutions, an outgrowth of the adversities Mink faced through college (x)
TITLE IX.
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.
Title IX is mostly known for its impact on high school and collegiate athletics, but it was originally created to add sex as a protected class category, as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The United States Supreme Court also issued decisions in the 1980s and 1990s, making clear that sexual harassment and assault is a form of sex discrimination. In 2011, President Barack Obama issued guidance reminding schools of their obligation to redress sexual assaults as civil rights matters under Title IX. Obama also issued guidance clarifying Title IX protections for LGBT students through Dear Colleague letters. (x)
After all this and SO MUCH MORE -- this is a brief newsletter -- she died in 2002. She was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2014. Go Patsy Mink.