[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17795-17796]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                                TITLE IX

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening, and I had other 
comments prepared, but I do not want to be repetitious. I am kind of 
going to go from the cuff and say I have been blessed to be able to 
stand on the floor this evening with my colleague who put into practice 
title IX. And I say, Put into practice, because she was the one along 
with her colleague, Edith Green, that moved to have this legislation 
come to the floor, and I just want to take a moment to say: 
Congresswoman Patsy Mink, thank you so very much.
  I have been blessed on another occasion to have worked in the 
campaign of Congressman Lewis Stokes back in 1968, and to stand here as 
his successor is another great opportunity.
  So it is nice to see history in movement.
  I stand here, and I would have gone through some of the statistics 
that my colleague, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-
McDonald) went through in her presentation, but I am going to skip 
that. But I want to congratulate you, Congresswoman Millender-McDonald, 
for organizing this evening's activity. I will move on to say in the 
last Olympics held in Atlanta, female athletes gave an outstanding and 
noteworthy performance. The last Olympics featured the first appearance 
of the women's softball team. The women's basketball Olympic dream team 
took the gold medal. The introduction of the WNBA was just 2 years ago, 
and I am proud to say that women in the city of Cleveland are always 
out in support of the Rockers. Of the 44 gold medals won by the U.S., 
19 were given to women, including 5 team efforts.

  In 1997, which marked the 25th anniversary of title IX, the women's 
addition of the National Directory of College Athletics asked people to 
give the most significant people or events which have effected women's 
inter-collegiate athletics since 1972. Of all the things presented, 
title IX was the one event in history that affected intercollegiate 
athletics.
  I was proud to be able to be here in these United States when, in 
1999, not only did the Duke men go to the final four, the Duke women 
went to the final four. That was significant for us to be able to say 
that.
  I am almost out of time, only to say it is wonderful to turn on my 
television and see women athletes marketing sports products and setting 
the example for younger women. It is important for young women to build 
esteem and self-confidence, and I am pleased to say that my son, an 
athlete, is even proud of the women athletes that go to his school, and 
that is significant.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for 
yielding to me.
  I want to deviate just a little bit too from what I had prepared to 
say. I am just so appreciative hearing the history and the context and 
the genesis and the activity that gave rise to title IX and to tell you 
I did not know of the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink) wanting to go 
into medicine. But I have been reporting about her esteemed career at 
the University of Chicago Law School, and she says sometimes I elevated 
her to be first in the class, but I was told she was in the top 10 of 
her class. So if she had wanted to go to medicine, she would have been 
a great doctor, but we are very pleased that she is a great 
Congresswoman, a person of commitment and substance, and not only did 
she do something great in the 1970s in authoring title IX, but she 
continues to fight for equality of education for all people. And so we 
want to thank her for what she has done, but we want to thank her for 
what she is and what she represents to the future not only for women, 
but for men as well because she set the kind of example of what 
equality means.
  Not only is she making people pay for their error and not letting her 
get into medicine, but she is opening opportunities not only for, 
obviously we see what happened with Earleen Collins, the first woman 
commander of NASA Space; just think of the opportunity that she does 
for people. Well, you have helped make that possible, and we celebrate 
the Women's World Cup champion. Just think if we did not have a title 
IX, that would not have been possible for all of these college women to 
come together with such confidence, such skill, and such poise to 
represent the United States at such a way.
  So I want to thank you and thank our former colleague, Edith Green, 
who had the courage to follow you or be with you as you made history in 
the 1970s for all women and for all America.
  Mr. Speaker. Equality. Its something that we have strived toward for 
years. The question is whether we will ever really reach equality.
  Tonight we are honoring our colleagues, Congresswomen Patsy Mink and 
Former Congresswoman Edith Green who authored and initiated Title IX: 
the Women's World Cup champions; and Air Force Colonel Eileen Collins, 
the first woman to command a NASA space shuttle.
  Mr. Speaker. All of these women must be commended for their 
leadership in providing equity for women and men in our educational 
institutions. They and especially Congresswoman Mink continue to fight 
for equality in education.
  Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 is the landmark 
legislation that bans sex discrimination in federally assisted 
education programs or activities--in other words, women can not be 
discriminated against in academics or athletics.
  Title IX grew out of the women's civil rights movement of the late 
1960s and early 1970s.

[[Page 17796]]

  During that time, Congress began to focus attention on systemic 
educational barriers to women and girls.
  And because of this legislation, women have come a long way.
  For American colleges and universities, women now constitute 
majorities in college enrollment and completion, and are the majority 
of recipients of bachelor's and master's degrees.
  The proportion of women graduating from college today is now equal to 
that of men.
  By 2006, women are projected to earn 55% of all bachelor's degrees.
  In 1994, women earned 34% of all U.S. medical degrees, compared with 
9% in 1972.
  In 1994, women earned 43% of law degrees, compared with 7% in 1972.
  In 1994, 44% of all doctoral degrees to U.S. citizens went to women, 
up from 25% in 1977.
  There are more female faculty members now than in 1972, with women 
constituting 37.9% of faculty members at two-year public colleges, and 
19.5% at private four-year colleges and universities.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons that we are celebrating the success 
of Title IX is that on July 10, 1999, the Women's World Cup Soccer 
victory reminded us about how important it is to have the protections 
for women that we now have.
  But this victory was about more than the game and the win. It was 
about female athletes, sports, and equality.
  In 1971, about 31,000 women were involved in college sports and today 
that number has more than tripled.
  From 1971 to 1998, spending on athletic scholarships for women has 
grown from less than $100,000 to almost $200 million.
  In 1971, the athletic participation of all girls in this country was 
294,015. Today, this number has climbed to over 2.2 million!
  These statistics are overwhelming. We must keep on fighting this 
battle.
  Equality. We must remember that this is what we want to achieve. 
We're on our way. This victory simply reminded us of that.
  I want to thank Congresswomen Millender-McDonald and Carolyn Maloney 
for bringing this important occasion to the floor of the House of 
Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in celebrating how far women have come in 
both academics and athletics, and congratulate our colleague Patsy Mink 
for her leadership and vision.

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