Minks’ experiences of racial and gender discrimination during her educational career, inspired her to become a politician and take stands for ethnic and gender equality.
Growing up, Asian-American Patsy was bullied by whites who called her "Jap" and gave her suspicious looks. (Davidson, page 107-113)
At Maui High School, in 1943, Principal Malcolm Clower, encouraged her successful run for Student Body President. Mink said, "He played a very significant role in my development, and self confidence as a person. And it made no difference to him that I was a girl student. He never indicated the slightest preference, and deciding various tasks that it had to be given to a male or that it couldn't be done by a female. I think it was a mark of exceptional ability on his part to rise above the normal stereotypes of the day."(Davidson, page 109)
Mink, graduating in 1944, first attended the University of Hawaii, later transferring to the University of Nebraska in January 1947. Mink wanted to be a Doctor, inspired by her family doctor's ability to heal and comfort people. “In the spring of 1948 Patsy applied to more than a dozen medical schools, only to be rejected by all of them. Two factors working against her admission: (1) she was a woman, and at that time only two to three percent of an entering class were women; and (2) medical schools in that year were inundated with applications from returning war veterans.” (Arinaga, 580)
If she couldn’t be a doctor, she would be a lawyer instead. She went to Chicago Law School, graduating in 1951 with her JDL degree and married John Mink, a caucasian. They moved back to Hawaii with their newborn daughter, Gwendolyn. When Mink could not find employment in a law firm because she was a married woman and mother who was expected to stay at home, she opened her own office, becoming the first Japanese American female attorney in Hawaii. (http://www.anb.org/articles/07/07-00812.html) “Not discouraged, she decided to open her own law office. She got a small broom closet office in her father's building although she didn't have money to pay rent. She had to wait for some paying clients but in the meantime, she had a part-time paying job at the University of Hawaii. She taught a business law class.” - Sue Davidson (Davidson, page 123-125)