The U.S. chapter of the Women’s Human Rights Campaign mourns the passing of the Title IX, which perished one week ago today, the 49th anniversary of its birth.
Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, later renamed the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act after its author, Patsy Mink, was born on June 23, 1972, in Washington, D.C. It states:
“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 was born to Patsy Mink, who was born on December 6, 1927, at a sugar plantation camp in Hawaii, to descendants of Japanese immigrants. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school in 1944. She eventually studied at the University of Nebraska, where she worked to abolish what were, at the time, legal racial segregation policies. She eventually enrolled in the University of Chicago Law School, where she met John Mink, whom she married. They both graduated law school in 1951, had a daughter in 1952, and returned to Hawaii.
Patsy Takemoto Mink’s story is a story about a woman’s fierce refusal to accept the racist and sexist laws that tried to keep her in her place. Due to sexist laws that were in place in the early 1950s, she lost her Hawaiian territorial residency when she married, and she was denied the right to take the bar exam. She fought the law and won the right to take the exam and passed it. However, because she was married and had a child, no law firm would hire her. So, she established her own law practice. She eventually won a seat on the Hawaiian territorial House of Representatives, becoming the first Japanese-American woman to do so. Two years later, she became the first woman to serve in the territorial Senate. She spoke in favor of civil rights at the 1960 Democratic National Convention, and earned a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964. She served a total of 12 terms in Congress. While there, she introduced the first comprehensive initiatives under the Early Childhood Education Act and worked on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
And finally, in 1972, with momentum from the Women’s Liberation Movement, she co-authored the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act. Title IX was eventually renamed the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act following Mink’s death in 2002. So today, although we refer to the law as Title IX, which is accurate, the law is technically called the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in her memory.
Title IX was instrumental in the lives of millions of women and girls, helping girls compete in athletics on a level playing field, encouraging women and girls to pursue academic accomplishments and career objectives, and clamping down on campus sexual harassment and rape.
With its death all but certain, Title IX was admitted into hospice care on January 20, 2021, when President Biden signed the Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis or Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation. Its eventual passing occurred on June 16, one week before the anniversary of its birth, when the Department of Education issued a notice that it would henceforth redefine sex to include “gender identity.”
Title IX is survived by millions of current and future girls and women who may now never experience the glory of victory.
*Please note that the Women’s Human Rights Campaign USA (WHRC-USA) is now officially known as Women’s Declaration International USA (WDI-USA)
