New from Equal Rights Advocates: On the Supreme Court’s Decision in Janus v. AFSCME

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 27, 2018

CONTACT
Delia Coleman, dcoleman@equalrights.org, 415-575-2396

 

On the Supreme Court’s Decision in Janus v. AFSCME

Ruling Will Hurt Workers, Especially Women of Color

 

The following is a statement from Noreen Farrell, Executive Director, Equal Rights Advocates on the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME, in which the Court ruled 5-4 that public sector unions may not collect “fair share” fees from non-union workers who benefit from the union-negotiated contracts but are not dues-paying members.

“Today, the Supreme Court has once again decided to ignore justice and the needs of working women, particularly the large numbers of women of color who rely on the benefits and wages of unionized jobs. Their decision to attack working people’s basic right to come together and fight for better wages and working conditions wrenches the clock back to a time of robber barons squeezing every drop of labor from their workers with impunity. But while this Court, and this Administration, wage war against working families, we are resolved to keep fighting.

This decision is particularly devastating for women who work under union contracts. The labor movement and the best practices it has won for its members have been crucial to women’s improved economic status, our access to regular and good-quality healthcare, and our access to opportunities and promotion, especially in male-dominated fields. When women of color join unions, their median earnings are higher compared to non-union workers. Hispanic women have the largest earning advantage when they’re in unions. Women in labor unions are also more likely to have health insurance provided by their employer or union. With their decision, the Court has given employers permission to slowly choke off this kind of benefit for working women and their families.

As a result, this decision is a back-door attempt at not only curbing the advantages labor unions bring to working and middle class families; it is also a terrible attempt to halt the advancement of working women in our tracks.

Since our founding in 1974, Equal Rights Advocates has spearheaded work dedicated to achieving economic justice for women workers, particularly those facing the most egregious forms of sex discrimination and unjust working conditions compounded by other barriers to fair treatment and equal opportunity in the workplace.

We will not let this unjust decision stand, and we are in solidarity with labor unions across the country who are a bulwark of economic justice for all working people.”

 

The post On the Supreme Court’s Decision in Janus v. AFSCME appeared first on Equal Rights Advocates.

By: ERA Staff
Published at: June 28, 2018 at 07:02AM
View on EqualRights.org

New from Equal Rights Advocates: Legal and Advocacy Groups Demand DeVos Withdraw False Claims About Sexual Assault Cases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 27, 2018

 

CONTACTS
Equal Rights Advocates: Jess Eagle, 415.575.2380, jeagle@equalrights.org
Democracy Forward: Charisma Troiano, 202.701.1781, ctroiano@democracyforward.org

 

Legal and Advocacy Groups Demand Betsy DeVos Withdraw False Claims About Sexual Assault Cases

Trump Administration Violated Federal Law in Using Unsupported and Misleading Claims To Roll Back Title IX Protections for Student Survivors of Sexual Violence

Washington, DC — Today, Equal Rights Advocates and 12 other civil rights and legal advocacy groups petitioned the Department of Education (“DOE”) to retract and correct its misleading and unreliable 2017 “Dear Colleague Letter” which, along with an accompanying Question and Answer document, established the Trump Administration’s discriminatory new Title IX policy. The groups seek corrections under the Information Quality Act (“IQA”), a data accuracy law that requires government agencies provide accurate, reliable, and unbiased information to the public, particularly when such information has a clear impact on public policy.

The 2017 “Dear Colleague Letter,” signed by Acting Assistant Secretary Candice Jackson, contains at least six incorrect and unsupported statements of fact. For example, it states, without proof, that under the prior Title IX guidance:

• Many schools established procedures for resolving allegations that … are overwhelmingly stacked against the accused;
• Many schools traditionally employed a higher clear-and-convincing evidence standard; and
• Many schools established procedures for resolving allegations that lack the most basic elements of fairness and due process.

These factual assertions run counter to the available evidence, which may be why DOE did not cite any evidence to support them. “[T]he inaccurate information disseminated…incorrectly suggests that students who claim they have experienced sexual violence (primarily women and girls) are being given unfair advantages in comparison to their alleged perpetrators (primarily men and boys),” the groups state in their correction demand. “[The] prevention and redress of sexual harassment and violence in educational institutions is a serious issue, [but] the Department disrespects the issue, as well as the people who experience it, when it relies on and disseminates information that lack the basic attributes of quality.”

The IQA demand letter was submitted on June 27, 2018. Under IQA guidelines, the Administration has 60 days to respond to the request for correction.

Along with Equal Rights Advocates, the other signatories to the letter include Democracy Forward, the National Center for Youth Law, SurvJustice, National Women’s Law Center, Victim Rights Law Center, End Rape on Campus, Futures Without Violence, Public Justice, Legal Voice, Know Your IX, a project of Advocates for Youth, American Association of University Women, and Legal Momentum, the Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund.

SurvJustice, Equal Rights Advocates, and Victim Rights Law Center have an active lawsuit against DeVos and the DOE challenging the new Title IX guidance as an unlawful, discriminatory, and unconstitutional policy. The groups are represented by Democracy Forward, the National Center for Youth Law, and the National Women’s Law Center.

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Equal Rights Advocates (www.equalrights.org ) is a national civil rights organization fighting gender discrimination in workplaces and education through litigation, public policy and advocacy, and partnerships with workers and students.  

The post Legal and Advocacy Groups Demand DeVos Withdraw False Claims About Sexual Assault Cases appeared first on Equal Rights Advocates.

By: ERA Staff
Published at: June 28, 2018 at 05:10AM
View on EqualRights.org

New from Equal Rights Advocates: Remembering and Honoring Madeline Mixer

 

Equal Rights Advocates honors and remembers our friend Madeline Mixer, a gender-equality pioneer who spent decades advocating and organizing for working women. Madeline, a passionate supporter of ERA throughout her life, passed away earlier this month.

Since the 1960s, Madeline advocated for non-traditional job training and placement for women. As the director of the Women’s Bureau District IX (San Francisco) of the U.S. Department of Labor, and long after her retirement, Madeline supported women who sought jobs in nontraditional blue-collar work, in fields typically dominated by men. She was an avowed feminist, and for a time during the Reagan administration, she lost her job because of it. (Feminism was a family trait; her mother, who lived to be 101, had been a suffragist.)

Madeline co-founded the nonprofit organization Tradeswomen Inc. in 1979. The organization is still active today. She also understood the importance of communication as a way for women to support each other and organize, founding Tradeswoman Magazine, which was published for nearly two decades, and a newsletter called “Pride and a Paycheck,” which is still published.

Long-time ERA supporter and tradeswomen advocate Molly Martin said this of Madeline in tribute:

“I think Madeline’s life goal was to make it possible for women to have access to jobs that could make them independent of men. Her own life experience as a divorced mother of a young child was the driving force behind her feminism. At the time women didn’t have so many options.”

Noreen Farrell, ERA Executive Director, agrees, and adds: “Madeline was a pioneer and also a wondrous historian of the movement. She energized a new movement of feminists with stories of the strides she made possible.”

Madeline Mixer’s legacy of advocacy to serve the cause of gender justice highlights the importance of collaboration and resilience. She will be missed by everyone in the ERA family.

 

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The post Remembering and Honoring Madeline Mixer appeared first on Equal Rights Advocates.

By: ERA Staff
Published at: June 23, 2018 at 04:16AM
View on EqualRights.org

New from Equal Rights Advocates: SCOTUS Blow to Workers’ Rights Demands Legislative Fix

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, May 22, 2018

 

CONTACT

Delia Coleman, 415.575.2396, dcoleman@equalrights.org

 

SCOTUS Blow to Workers’ Rights Demands Legislative Fix

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CO – In a 5-4 decision issued yesterday written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the Supreme Court ruled in ​Epic Systems Corporation v. Lewis​ that employers can use mandatory arbitration agreements to bar workers from banding together to challenge workplace violations.

 

Noreen Farrell, Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates,​ released the following statement:

For over four decades, Equal Rights Advocates has represented the most vulnerable of women workers. Make no mistake: the Epic Systems decision is a direct attack on their rights. As the #MeToo movement has made clear, women must often work collectively to force change in their workplace. Many cannot afford to pursue their claims individually and risk retaliation when they do so. And because individual arbitration proceedings are not public, they prevent the exposure of widespread abuses and protect repeat predators in the workplace.

By upholding forced arbitration agreements that bar class or collective actions, the Supreme Court has made it harder for workers to challenge and change discriminatory work conditions. The decision flies in the face of the National Labor Relations Act and its interpretation by the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRA entitles employees to “engage in concerted activities for the purpose of mutual aid or protection.” We wholeheartedly stand with Justice Ginsburg, who said in her dissent: “The court today holds enforceable these arm-twisted, take-it-or-leave-it-contracts – including provisions requiring employees to litigate wage and hours claims only one-by-one. Federal labor law does not countenance such isolation of employees.”

The Court’s decision in Epic Systems panders to corporate interests at the expense of workers. It will, no doubt, lead to the dramatic under-enforcement of civil rights laws designed to protect workers’ rights. Our eyes now turn to Congress. We call upon elected leaders to demonstrate their commitment to the workers who put them in office. We demand a legislative fix clarifying the right of workers to take collective legal action.

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Equal Rights Advocates is a national civil rights organization dedicated to protecting and expanding economic and educational access and opportunities for women and girls.

 

 

The post SCOTUS Blow to Workers’ Rights Demands Legislative Fix appeared first on Equal Rights Advocates.

By: ERA Staff
Published at: May 23, 2018 at 08:56AM
View on EqualRights.org

New from Equal Rights Advocates: Lactation Accommodations: A Right, Not a Privilege

ERA Staff Attorney Maha Ibrahim shares first-hand insights on the importance workplace of workplace lactation accommodations this Mother’s Day.

 

Pumping is an annoying and laborious task. As a new mom of 5 month-old baby Raymond, I am well acquainted with this fact. After three lactation consultants, countless specialists’ and doctors’ visits, a bleary-eyed lifetime of internet searches, book research, chortling tears and just plain asking other moms, my baby Ray is no latcher. He hasn’t once successfully fed at my breast, yet I have been able to feed him breastmilk, because I pump.

 

Being an attorney ally for survivors must begin and end with survivor empowerment. This means survivors should be With a baby who was 19 inches long and a whopping 9 lbs 4 oz when he was born, I have to pump 5-7 times a day. My case is extreme because of my baby’s size, but all breastfeeding moms must pump when they return to work, usually at least two or three times a day. It is the only way for other caretakers to feed babies breastmilk while moms work, and it is the only way for moms to retain their milk supply. (Breastmilk is a supply and demand arrangement. If you don’t pump or feed a baby at regular intervals throughout the day every day, your milk goes away. Poof.)

 

“At ERA, we don’t just relish in our own women-friendly workplace; We fight like hell every day in the courts and in the halls of legislatures because we want all women and families to have common sense rights that are humane and, frankly, good for business.”

 

While I was on maternity leave, it was incredibly hard to pump as many times as I needed to during the day to build and keep my supply and feed my baby. I always had a baby in my arms, and pumping and baby holding are incompatible. Because I am a women’s rights lawyer, I knew how privileged I was when I told fellow new moms that I would be relieved to return to work because I knew it would be so much easier for me to pump at the office than it was for me to pump at home.

 

I have that privilege, because my employer understands the math of breastfeeding, values women and families, and gives me time and privacy to pump. But we live in a country where most laws were made by many people over hundreds of years who neither knew nor cared to learn about motherhood. The tedious labor of love and necessity that is pumping has been treated like a selfish or irrational employee request.

 

Currently, Equal Rights Advocates represents a worker who completely lost her milk supply and could no longer breastfeed her baby because her employer would not allow her to pump during a several-days-long mandatory training. Even in the very white collar field of legal work, I have many lawyer colleagues who have spent hours in parking lots pumping in their cars during long days of representing their clients in court, because California courts do not have lactation accommodations. Pumping in their parked cars means pumping in broad daylight while judges, opposing counsels, court staff, and others walk by. It also means a lot of time spent coming and going from the courthouse – when given a 15 minute recess, it usually takes five to ten minutes for the lawyer to get out to her car, and getting back in through security might take longer. So, the attorneys also have to worry about rushing to not miss court, which would not happen if there was a conveniently located lactation room.

 

At ERA, we don’t just relish in our own women-friendly workplace; We fight like hell every day in the courts and in the halls of legislatures because we want all women and families to have common sense rights that are humane and, frankly, good for business. That is why we are proud to support CA SB 937 (Wiener & Levya). If passed, this bill would be the most comprehensive lactation accommodation law in the United States. It would create minimum standards for lactation accommodation spaces, require employers to have written lactation policies, require the creation of lactation accommodation best practices in our state, and ensure that employees receive information about their rights to a safe and comfortable lactation space at work.

 

This Mother’s Day, we salute all mothers: the new and terrified, and the seasoned (and maybe still terrified). You are all badasses in our book, and we will continue to fight to get laws on the books to get you the rights you deserve at work.

 

For more information on SB 937, see our Stronger California Campaign website.

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Maha Ibrahim is a Staff Attorney at Equal Rights Advocates

The post Lactation Accommodations: A Right, Not a Privilege appeared first on Equal Rights Advocates.

By: Maha Ibrahim
Published at: May 14, 2018 at 03:53AM
View on EqualRights.org

New from Equal Rights Advocates: Lactation Accommodations: A Right, Not a Privilege

ERA Staff Attorney Maha Ibrahim shares first-hand insights on the importance workplace of workplace lactation accommodations this Mother’s Day.

 

Pumping is an annoying and laborious task. As a new mom of 5 month-old baby Raymond, I am well acquainted with this fact. After three lactation consultants, countless specialists’ and doctors’ visits, a bleary-eyed lifetime of internet searches, book research, chortling tears and just plain asking other moms, my baby Ray is no latcher. He hasn’t once successfully fed at my breast, yet I have been able to feed him breastmilk, because I pump.

 

Being an attorney ally for survivors must begin and end with survivor empowerment. This means survivors should be With a baby who was 19 inches long and a whopping 9 lbs 4 oz when he was born, I have to pump 5-7 times a day. My case is extreme because of my baby’s size, but all breastfeeding moms must pump when they return to work, usually at least two or three times a day. It is the only way for other caretakers to feed babies breastmilk while moms work, and it is the only way for moms to retain their milk supply. (Breastmilk is a supply and demand arrangement. If you don’t pump or feed a baby at regular intervals throughout the day every day, your milk goes away. Poof.)

 

“At ERA, we don’t just relish in our own women-friendly workplace; We fight like hell every day in the courts and in the halls of legislatures because we want all women and families to have common sense rights that are humane and, frankly, good for business.”

 

While I was on maternity leave, it was incredibly hard to pump as many times as I needed to during the day to build and keep my supply and feed my baby. I always had a baby in my arms, and pumping and baby holding are incompatible. Because I am a women’s rights lawyer, I knew how privileged I was when I told fellow new moms that I would be relieved to return to work because I knew it would be so much easier for me to pump at the office than it was for me to pump at home.

 

I have that privilege, because my employer understands the math of breastfeeding, values women and families, and gives me time and privacy to pump. But we live in a country where most laws were made by many people over hundreds of years who neither knew nor cared to learn about motherhood. The tedious labor of love and necessity that is pumping has been treated like a selfish or irrational employee request.

 

Currently, Equal Rights Advocates represents a worker who completely lost her milk supply and could no longer breastfeed her baby because her employer would not allow her to pump during a several-days-long mandatory training. Even in the very white collar field of legal work, I have many lawyer colleagues who have spent hours in parking lots pumping in their cars during long days of representing their clients in court, because California courts do not have lactation accommodations. Pumping in their parked cars means pumping in broad daylight while judges, opposing counsels, court staff, and others walk by. It also means a lot of time spent coming and going from the courthouse – when given a 15 minute recess, it usually takes five to ten minutes for the lawyer to get out to her car, and getting back in through security might take longer. So, the attorneys also have to worry about rushing to not miss court, which would not happen if there was a conveniently located lactation room.

 

At ERA, we don’t just relish in our own women-friendly workplace; We fight like hell every day in the courts and in the halls of legislatures because we want all women and families to have common sense rights that are humane and, frankly, good for business. That is why we are proud to support CA SB 937 (Wiener & Levya). If passed, this bill would be the most comprehensive lactation accommodation law in the United States. It would create minimum standards for lactation accommodation spaces, require employers to have written lactation policies, require the creation of lactation accommodation best practices in our state, and ensure that employees receive information about their rights to a safe and comfortable lactation space at work.

 

This Mother’s Day, we salute all mothers: the new and terrified, and the seasoned (and maybe still terrified). You are all badasses in our book, and we will continue to fight to get laws on the books to get you the rights you deserve at work.

 

For more information on SB 937, see our Stronger California Campaign website.

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Maha Ibrahim is a Staff Attorney at Equal Rights Advocates

The post Lactation Accommodations: A Right, Not a Privilege appeared first on Equal Rights Advocates.

By: Maha Ibrahim
Published at: May 14, 2018 at 03:53AM
View on EqualRights.org

New from Equal Rights Advocates: Don’t Miss Mónica Ramírez and Irma Herrera at Our Gala Luncheon

Join Equal Rights Advocates for our 44th annual Gala Luncheon June 6 in San Francisco.

On June 6, hundreds of gender justice champions will gather in San Francisco to celebrate our collective power and everything we’ve accomplished together over the past year.

At work, at school, out on the streets, and in the halls of capitol buildings across the country, everyday women have shown extraordinary courage that has benefitted us all. That deserves celebration!

You won’t want to miss this. Our 44th annual Gala Luncheon features keynote speaker Mónica Ramírez, and introducing Irma Herrera as emcee!

 

Reserve your spot now.

 

About Mónica Ramírez: ERA is thrilled to announce Mónica Ramírez as a Champion of Justice Honoree and this year’s keynote speaker. As co-founder and President of the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (National Farmworker Women’s Alliance), Mónica has dedicated her entire career to ending gender-based violence in the workplace and achieving gender equity. She has served farmworker, Latina, and immigrant women as an organizer and advocate for more than two decades. She has also represented individuals as a civil rights and gender justice attorney since 2004. With a November 2017 letter published by TIME magazine, she helped spark the TIME’S UP movement.

 

About Irma Herrera: Irma Herrera is a social justice activista, writer, performer, and former Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates for 15 years. During her 30-plus years as a public interest lawyer, Irma fought for the rights of Spanish-speaking migrant farm workers and poor minority children, among others. Her 2016 play “Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name?” explores the cultural significance of names, and the parts of our identities we’re asked to give up for the sake of fitting in and getting along. A renowned writer, former investigative journalist, and professor of social justice law and education law, Irma’s distinctions include the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award from the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession; National Person of Distinction by Santa Clara University School of Law; and California NOW’s Safety, Health and Equal Opportunity (S.H.E.) Award for promoting educational opportunity.

 

Sponsor a Student Activist. Honor the courage of a local student activist or ERA client by sponsoring their seat at the event. These gender justice champions are on the frontlines of the fight against injustice in our schools and workplaces. Your donation will ensure they get the recognition they deserve!

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The post Don’t Miss Mónica Ramírez and Irma Herrera at Our Gala Luncheon appeared first on Equal Rights Advocates.

By: ERA Staff
Published at: May 12, 2018 at 10:47AM
View on EqualRights.org

New from Equal Rights Advocates: Radical Justice Looks Like Centering the Survivor

ERA Senior Staff Attorney Brenda Adams shares insights on survivor-centered justice this Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

 

Experiences of sexual assault often strip survivors of their autonomy. As lawyers, it is our job to help the survivor reclaim that autonomy. The choice of whether or not to take legal action must always be grounded in respecting and uplifting a survivor’s vision of how to move forward. As a survivor, it’s okay to demand that your wants and comfort shape what your attorney does for you.

 

Being an attorney ally for survivors must begin and end with survivor empowerment. This means survivors should be provided with unbiased information and options. All options should be fully explained to survivors, including the option of doing nothing. Centering the survivor means centering their opinions about whether (not when) to take legal action.

 

“If you’re a survivor, it’s okay to demand that justice look like whatever you say it should look like. […] Sometimes the most radical justice looks like finding an ally who believes you.”

 

I would hope most attorneys already provide these options to their clients. But I also know that some have a tendency (perhaps unconsciously) to steer clients towards what the attorney deems to be the right choice. Many of us love to litigate, and we believe deeply in the power of the law to right wrongs. But that isn’t what matters here. It is essential that attorneys acknowledge their own biases, check them at the door, and provide the information and options to their clients in a neutral way, trusting in their clients’ abilities to make whatever decision is right for them.

 

Intersectionality and cultural sensitivity play a significant role in empowering sexual assault survivors. A survivor-focused attorney ally must understand where their clients are coming from, and what other major issues may play a role in their decision. I have represented LGBTQ clients who chose not to report their sexual assault because it meant outing themselves — or sometimes their abusive partners. Survivors of color can be faced with the difficult and unfair decision of choosing between their race and their gender; they may choose not to report an assault by a person of color for fear of perpetuating negative stereotypes of men of color or seeing another man from their community incarcerated. Other survivors may not want to report an incident to the police because they or their assailants are undocumented and they fear deportation will result from engaging with law enforcement. It is understandable why many low-income and marginalized people of all backgrounds choose not to engage in legal systems that have targeted and discriminated against their communities across generations.

 

There’s no magic intersectionality chart for seeking justice. These are just examples and will absolutely not be true for all people who fall into these categories. So, while it’s important to understand that people have various reasons for making the decisions they make (which often relate to their background and experiences) it is equally important not to make sweeping generalizations or assume why a person is making a particular choice. Focus less on the “why” and more on respecting the survivor’s choice and vision for justice, whatever it may be.

 

Remember: The survivor is the expert in their own experience.

 

If you’re a survivor, it’s okay to demand that justice look like whatever you say it should look like. If getting justice means simply telling your story to someone who will listen, without judgment and without an agenda, that’s fine. Sometimes the most radical justice looks like finding an ally who believes you.

 

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Brenda Adams has dedicated her legal career to representing the most marginalized communities of our society, with an emphasis on providing access to justice for immigrants, members of the LGBT+ community, and low-income communities of color. Joining ERA as a Senior Staff Attorney in January 2018, she helps to lead ERA’s impact litigation, oversee our Advice & Counseling program, and engage with our partners in efforts to end sexual violence at work and in school.

The post Radical Justice Looks Like Centering the Survivor appeared first on Equal Rights Advocates.

By: Brenda Adams
Published at: April 24, 2018 at 12:00PM
View on EqualRights.org

New from Equal Rights Advocates: This Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Survivors and Allies Have the Power

“Man with 19 Accusers Declares April Sexual Assault Awareness Month.” Nope, folks: that wasn’t an Onion headline. That was an actual headline from April 2 of this year, recounting actual facts, about a very real-life man actually leading our nation.

 

Reading a headline like that, it’s pretty easy to let your active, righteous anger be dampened by fear. After all, the power of any President of the United extends beyond the symbolic. This. Man. Has. Power. To. Impact. Change. When it comes to sexual assault (and especially campus sexual assault), our President and his administration have power to affect the lives of survivors across the country with misinformed policy reform and rollbacks.

 

Facing that imposing potential for power, it’s easy to forget the incredible capacity we have to fight back.

 

And so, this Sexual Assault Awareness Month (#SAAM), we want to remind our community that we too can makes changes, big and small, in our hometowns and across the nation. Yup, President Trump and his handful of remaining appointed officials do have power. But we are many, and we are more powerful:

 

1. We have the power to correct misinformation. Shout it loud for Department of Education Deputy Assistant Candice Jackson and that guy on Facebook you went to middle school with: Rape isn’t misreported 90% of the time. It isn’t misreported 50% of the time, or even 10% of the time. Rape is actually misreported between 2-8% of the time, in the same ranges as other felonies.

 

2. We have the amazing power to support survivors. We can Start By Believing. We can learn how to be there for friends or family members who’ve survived sexual assault.

 

3. We have the power to take our schools to court if they jeopardize our civil right to access to education after an assault, to seek damages and policy change through litigation.

 

4. We have the power to say #MeToo and bring down industry titans.

 

5. We have the power to walk out of our classrooms and to demand changes when our administration mishandles sexual harassment and sexual assault. We can make a hashtag to show voice our stories (#ShareYourStoryCKM), and we’ll make sure our demands are heard by our school’s administration.

 

6. We have the power to sue the U.S. Department of Education in the face of rollbacks on protections for student survivors of sexual assault.

 

7. We have the power to expand the image of who survivors are and center voices at the margins of sexual assault discourse and media coverage to ensure prevention and response efforts aren’t exclusive. We can share that:

• girls of color are disproportionately punished for “acting out” after experiencing sexual violence,
• that LGBTQ youth report higher percentages of harassment and assault and LGBTQ youth of color are 3 times more likely to miss school,
• and that children with disabilities are 2.9 times more likely to be victims of sexual abuse compared to children without disabilities

 

8. We have the power to write legislation to clear a backlog of rape kit evidence, to change laws so more workplace relationships are covered by protections against sexual harassment and assault, to extend the statute of limitations for sexual harassment and assault.

 

9. We have the power to take action and write to our state representatives and governors to demand they pass smart and strong laws.

 

10. We have the power to intervene as a bystander.

 

Throughout Sexual Assault and Awareness Month, you’ll see content from Equal Rights Advocates across our blog and social media highlighting perspectives on sexual assault awareness and prevention from diverse voices.  We’ll share the work of student-facing organizations combating campus sexual assault. We’ll talk about innovative state laws. We’ll hold up our own casework for others to see what justice can look like for survivors.

 

Equal Rights Advocates will continue to remind you that together, we are endlessly powerful.

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Have written content or a story that you’d like ERA to highlight throughout April for Sexual Assault Awareness Month? Leave a comment below or email Becca at bholt@equalrights.org.

The post This Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Survivors and Allies Have the Power appeared first on Equal Rights Advocates.

By: Becca Holt
Published at: April 14, 2018 at 06:53AM
View on EqualRights.org

New from Equal Rights Advocates: 7 Things You Didn’t Know about Equal Pay Day

We all know the number: The average U.S. woman is paid only 80 cents for every dollar paid to her white male co-worker.

As we watch the wage gap close inch by inch every year (but not last year — see #1 below), we’ve grown accustomed to the fact that the average American woman has to work an extra three months every year just to catch up with what a white man would be paid in her position. And that’s just an average; for some groups of women, pay discrimination is much, much worse.

As you organize to fight the pay-triarchy this Equal Pay Day, here are 7 lesser-known facts about the wage gap you need to know.

1. The pay gap got worse in 2017.
There are 7 Equal Pay Days each year, representing how far into 2018 particular groups of women need to work in order to catch up to what men earned in 2017 (Moms vs. Dads, Black women vs. white men, Native American women vs. white men, etc.). The later in the year Equal Pay Day falls, the more severe the pay gap. Latinx women, for example, experience the biggest gap in comparison with white men, so the Latinx Equal Pay Day isn’t until November.

Last year’s Equal Pay Day was April 4. This year we’re “celebrating” on April 10, meaning pay discrimination actually got worse in 2017. We can’t take for granted that the wage gap will shrink from year by year. We have to keep fighting to close it, and close it more quickly.

2. Two weeks ago, Trump issued an executive order revoking the Fair Pay Act.
With little warning, on March 27, Trump revoked President Obama’s 2014 Fair Pay & Safe Workplaces order, which helped make sure companies receiving federal funding complied with federal labor and civil rights laws. By revoking this order, Trump made it easier for companies to pay women less than men.

He also made it easier for large companies to force workers to sign arbitration clauses — or secret “cover-up clauses” — which are used to silence victims of sexual harassment and discrimination, and keep claims out of court and off the public record.

3. For Black women, San Francisco currently has the worst wage gap of any big city.
In San Francisco (where our office is located), Black women are paid only 47 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic men are paid — the worst wage disparity in any of the country’s 25 biggest cities. Nationally, the average for Black women is not much better, at 63 cents.

4. At the rate we’re going, the gender wage gap won’t close until 2058.
This figure is based on an average, meaning the higher salaries of Asian-American and white women are speeding up the estimate. But for Latinx women, who are paid only 54 cents for every dollar paid to white men, the wage gap wouldn’t close for another 215 years.

5. Native American women have to work an extra 9 months (until Sept. 27, 2018), just to catch up to what white men earned in 2017.
Native moms are up against racism, sexism, settler colonialism, AND the maternal wage gap, making just 49 cents for every $1 paid to white dads.

6. Across the board, moms earn less.
While women on average are paid only 80 cents per dollar they should earn, moms earn even less — 71 cents on average — despite being the sole, primary, or co-breadwinner 64% of the time. For trans and gender-nonconforming moms, it’s even worse, because they experience poverty at 400% higher rates than the general population.

7. We can do something about it in California: SB 1284
Equal Rights Advocates is co-sponsoring a few bills that will help close the gap. Let’s expedite the process of fixing pay discrimination in California, and lead the country forward on the path to equal pay.

SB 1284 is a bill that would require large California employers to report how much they pay workers broken down by gender, race, ethnicity, and job category.

Employers often aren’t even aware of pay disparities happening under their own roof. This bill would empower large employers to discover where disparities exist and address them. It would also promote more effective, proactive enforcement of California’s equal pay laws, and make sure race and gender wage gaps do not remain hidden from sight.

Join us in doing something about it! Ready to help us close the wage gap in California, and lead the rest of the country forward on equal pay? Tell your senator to vote yes on SB 1284 with our easy-to-use form here.

The post 7 Things You Didn’t Know about Equal Pay Day appeared first on Equal Rights Advocates.

By: ERAGuest
Published at: April 11, 2018 at 04:56AM
View on EqualRights.org