After her success with Title IX, she helped pass the Women’s Educational Equity Act in 1974, which provided funding to prevent discrimination in education programs. For example, schools could use the money to replace textbooks riddled with stereotypes pushing men toward careers in medicine and engineering while encouraging women to remain in the home. “So long as any part of our society adheres to a sexist notion that men should do certain things and women should do certain things and then begin to inculcate our babies with these certain notions through curriculum development and so forth, then we’ll never be rid of the basic causes of sex discrimination,” Mink said in an interview in 1974.

Even girls with 4.0 grade point averages lack confidence in their abilities: One-third said they don’t think they are smart enough for their dream job, and 62 percent of girls with the highest GPAs say they don’t share their opinion or disagree with others because they want to be liked — more so than girls with lower GPAs.