Be You Celebrates

BE YOU CELEBRATES... Be You Celebrates… Patsy Mink

The Be You groups celebrate important cultural figures. In this issue, they celebrate the life and work of Patsy Mink.

Brought up on a sugar cane plantation in Hawai’i where many immigrants from Imperial Japan were employed, Patsy Matsu Mink (née Takemoto) grew up wondering why she had to study constantly. Not finding education entertaining or particularly important, she often skipped classes and was despised by the staff at her Christian boarding school. However, all of that changed when she experienced what it was like to be the target of sexism. Her dreams of becoming a doctor being dashed by her teachers and watching her male classmates get commended for their efforts in the STEM field encouraged her to work harder and succeed. Studying without the support others received was draining and frustrating, and many of her friends quit their studies to work in the plantations they spent their lives in; not Patsy. Graduating as valedictorian after her gruelling years at high school, she described it later as “one of the proudest moments of her life.”

“We have to build the things we want to see accomplished.” (Patsy Mink)

She then applied for twelve medical schools and was rejected by all of them. Patsy realized that, to make sure no one else would have to go through the prejudice and barriers she had to, she’d have to smash down the walls herself and “level the playing field”, inspiring her to pursue a career in law. Challenges still continued in the department, such as being denied the right to take the bar examination due to her marriage status, but the futures of young people like her ultimately relied on what she did; she couldn’t just give up. In 1964, Patsy ran for the federal office and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, with the support of many voters desperate for an improved standard of education and equal chances for women. She was the first woman of colour and the first Asian American woman elected to Congress and, determined to make a change, she served 24 years as a senator. She is most known for playing a significant role in the introduction of the Early Childhood Education Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (which required public schools to promote bilingual education and STEM for every student), as well as the Title XI federal civil rights law. The latter prohibited sex-based discrimination of any kind in state-funded schools, and was a huge step forward for many like her, and was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in honour of her accomplishments. Unfortunately, Patsy passed away in 2002 but her outspoken advocacy for gender equality and equity in education and affordable childcare has made possible many different careers for everyone. The changes she made and her legacy are still very much visible and has promised so many people a better future.