License to Thrive

Edith Green

After leaving college in 1929 to become a teacher, get married and start a family, Edith Green decided in 1939 to return to school. Green went back to school and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon and did graduate work at Stanford University. She worked in radio and also was a writer but her continued interest in issues surrounding education led her to become a lobbyist for the Oregon Education Association.

Green first ran for Oregon Secretary of State in 1952 but lost. In 1954, she was elected as the representative for Oregon's 3rd congressional district, one of only 17 women in the House of Representatives at the time of her election.

In her ten terms in the House, Green focused on women's issues, education and social reforms. In 1955, Green proposed the Equal Pay Act, to ensure that men and women were paid equally for equal work. Green provided significant input to the National Defense Education Act of 1958, intended to keep the United States ahead of the Soviet Union during the space race after the launch of Sputnik. She also introduced the Library Service Bill which provided rural communities and locations access to libraries, the Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963 and the Higher Education Act of 1965 and 1967. Green's commitment to education earned her the moniker "Mrs. Education."

As the women's civil rights movement gained momentum in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Americans began to focus attention on inequities that constrained the progress of women and girls in education. Representative Green introduced a higher education bill with provisions regarding sex equity. The hearings that Green held were the first ever devoted to this topic and are considered the first legislative step toward the enactment of Title IX and a critical step in moving the discussion into the public realm. Dr. Bernice Sandler, known as the “godmother of Title IX,” worked with Rep. Green to provide materials and research for the hearings. Green’s efforts, in addition to the work of her colleagues, Representative Patsy Mink and Senator Birch Bayh, resulted in the passage of the Title IX legislation in 1972.