In February 2018, a girls’ water polo team was practicing in the ocean, dodging coral and foot-high waves because their school couldn’t — or wouldn’t — get them pool time. Seeing the boys’ sports teams getting support they didn’t have, they complained to the school. When those pleas went ignored, they did something that ultimately changed the lives of women across the U.S.: They sued.
Reporting how two Hawaiian women — 50 years apart — leveled the playing field for women in education, Kim Cross tells the stories of Patsy Mink, the trailblazing congresswoman who authored Title IX in 1971, and Ashley Badis, a water polo player with a rocket arm who simply wanted her school to play by the rules. With photos and video by Jenny Sathngam, it’s a stirring braided narrative about the fight for gender equality in the Civil Rights Era and the continuing need for vigilance today.
Of the federal laws protecting women’s rights, Title IX is one of the strongest and most enduring. Told at a time when the political tide has turned against this landmark law, Mink and Badis’s inspiring stories are a reminder of the sacrifices and gains made by generations of tenacious women. As one of Badis’s classmates said, “This is not just for us….. It’s for the girls behind us.”
