National Women's Law Center

WOMEN'S LEGAL RIGHTSTransforming the Federal Judiciary through Promoting Judicial Integrity and Judicial Nominations- Worked with partners to call for stronger ethical standards for the Supreme Court and entire federal judiciary to restore public trust in the courts, engaging media and creating original content.(To be continued on Sch O.)- Continued pushing President Biden to fulfill his commitment to appointing judges committed to equal justice and further diversify the federal bench. During the first three years of the Biden administration, the Senate has confirmed 166 lifetime judges-108 were women, 70 were women of color, and 80 were former public defenders and/or civil rights lawyers. These judges will not only bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the judicial system, but also bring us another step closer to a judiciary that looks more like our country.- In Spring 2023, led the gender justice community's strategy to urge the Senate to confirm renowned reproductive rights litigator Julie Rikelman to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Rikelman notably defended our fundamental right to abortion before the Supreme Court in the Dobbs case. In May 2023, we co-led a sign-on letter with nearly 80 civil rights organizations in support of Rikelman's nomination. Rikelman was ultimately confirmed on June 20, 2023. - In May 2023, we led a sign-on letter with nearly 50 other gender justice organizations to urge the Senate to swiftly confirm civil rights champion Nancy Abudu to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Abudu is a distinguished civil rights attorney with a demonstrated commitment to protecting the rights of women, people of color, and LGBTQI+ people and safeguarding democracy.- Provided information related to the need for and benefits of a judiciary that is more reflective of the country, and in particular the need for jurists with records demonstrating commitments to gender equity, integrity, and fair-mindedness who reflect the gender, racial/ethnic, and sexual orientation diversity within our country and understand the impact of their decisions on the rights of women, people of color, LGBTQI+ people, and other people marginalized in our society.

WORKPLACE JUSTICE AND EDUCATIONAddressing and Dismantling Workplace Barriers - Litigated in the courts in support of pay equity and closing the gender wage gap:- In September 2022, we filed an amicus brief in support of Dr. Leslie Boyer and her pay discrimination claim under the Equal Pay Act. Even though the two pharmacists were hired only six months apart, Dr. Boyer was paid (To be continued in Schedule O.)was paid $10,000 less than her less-experienced male colleague. The Agency admits that it did not provide Dr. Boyer equal pay for equal work but claims this is okay because it based the workers' pay on their previous salaries, which our brief contests.- In September 2022, we co-led an amicus brief in support of Dr. Claire Mundell, a psychologist who learned in a chance conversation with her male colleague that he was being paid twice as much as she was, for the same work. Our brief urges the First Circuit to uphold the federal district court's ruling that the Maine Equal Pay Law, like the federal Equal Pay Act, forbids sex-based disparities in employee pay, regardless of whether the employer intended to harm women through its pay practices.- Litigated in the courts to protect women workers from stalking and sex harassment:- In August 2022, we helped obtain a settlement on behalf of three women of color in a sexual harassment case against CableConn Industries, Inc. The women faced extensive harassment and sexual abuse by their supervisors, which the company failed to address. In addition to monetary relief, the settlement requires that CableConn implement important changes to existing policies and procedures related to sex harassment and other forms of discrimination.- In December 2022, we joined other organizations in submitting an amicus brief in Yost v. Everyrealm, Inc. and Johnson v. Everyrealm, Inc. on the proper application of the Ending Forced Arbitration in Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act ("EFASASHA"). EFASASHA, enacted in March 2022, prevents employers and other businesses from sweeping sexual misconduct under the rug by providing plaintiffs with cases related to sexual assault or sexual harassment the right to pursue their claims in court, instead of being forced into secretive and unfair arbitration procedures.- In March 2023, we joined an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the State of Colorado in Counterman v. Colorado. The case arose when Billy Counterman was convicted under Colorado's criminal stalking statute for conduct that included likely more than 1 million messages to his victim over a two-year period, including messages indicating he was physically surveilling her and threatening that she should die. The brief argued that proof that he subjectively intended to threaten his victim was not necessary to convict him of stalking and that the Court should instead apply a "totality of circumstances" test to judge whether a defendant has engaged in threatening behavior in violation of law.- On June 22, 2023, we sought leave to file an amicus brief in support of Sheila LaRose, a former public defender who experienced ongoing sex harassment, including stalking, by a former client. Her employer took no action for months after she reported harassment, asserting it had no obligation to address harassment that occurred outside of work, although it arose out of Ms. LaRose's work. Ms. LaRose won a multi-million-dollar judgment against King County, and the County is appealing this decision.- Other litigation in support of workers' rights and fair pay:- On July 15, 2022, we co-led an amicus brief to protect restaurant workers from wage theft and abusive labor practices, urging the courts to limit the amount of time tipped employees can spend performing non-tip producing work while still receiving cash wages as low as $2.13 per hour. - Led a coalition of organizations in successfully advocating for the passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, an important new civil rights law enacted in December 2022 with broad bipartisan support, which ensures that pregnant workers receive reasonable accommodations on the job when they need them. NWLC's efforts included providing technical assistance to Congress, spearheading public opinion polling in support of accommodations for pregnant workers, and uplifting the broad array of support for the bill from women's groups, the medical community, the business community, and more.- Provided technical policy assistance and/or coalition support in support of pay-transparency legislative efforts in Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Oregon, and Indiana to give employers and employees a tool to help close gender and racial wage gaps and more efficiently and effectively recruit and retain talent. - Provided technical policy assistance to gender and worker justice advocates and attorneys in Colorado and Vermont to help successfully pass legislation strengthening protections against workplace harassment.- Engaged the press and the public around the benefits of pay transparency-a powerful and under-used tool that could potentially reduce the gender wage gap. Published a resource collection, fact sheet, and blog, becoming a thought leader and trusted expert on this exciting new policy. - Published monthly jobs day reports to track the pandemic's continued and uneven economic impact on women and frequently spoke to the press about women's employment trends. Between February and April 2020, women lost 12.2 million jobs, reversing an entire decade of job gains since the end of the Great Recession, and women were still making their way back to baseline in the second half of 2022.- Throughout 2022 and 2023, we published critical analyses on the lifetime wage gap for Black women, Latinas, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander women, and Native women-illustrating how sexism and racism intersect to rob these women of hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars over the course of a 40-year career.- On June 15, 2023, published a groundbreaking analysis on emerging LGBTQI+ pay gap data. Demystifying the wage gap faced by all members of the LGBTQI+ community will provide essential insight into the economic realities of one of our most vulnerable populations that can be used to help ensure equal opportunity for all. - Released our report #MeToo Five Years Later: Progress and Pitfalls in State Workplace Anti-Harassment Laws in October 2022, spotlighting the 22 states and the District of Columbia who had then passed a total of more than 70 workplace anti-harassment bills, while also urging further action. The policy response has not adequately centered Black women or other women of color, immigrant women, women with disabilities, LGBTQI+ people, or women working in low-paid jobs. In addition, workers in large swaths of the Midwest, South, and Mountain states have seen few, if any, workplace anti-harassment policy reforms since #MeToo went viral.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS & HEALTH- Launched the Abortion Access Legal Defense Fund in response to the legal chaos unleashed when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Our Fund will help cover legal expenses for people facing legal consequences because they sought an abortion or helped someone else get one. The Abortion Access LDF is part of the Abortion Defense Network-a new resource launched by six leading reproductive rights organizations, including NWLC, to help individuals and organizations who need abortion-related legal advice, representation, or help paying legal expenses in civil and criminal proceedings. (To be continued in Schedule O.)- Litigated in the courts to protect abortion rights amid the devastation after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade: - In January 2023, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of 14 clergy members from seven faith traditions against the state of Missouri-arguing that the state's abortion ban and other restrictions establish one religious view about abortion in violation of the Missouri constitution's robust protections for separation of church and state.- In May 2023, we won a historic victory when the federal government took action against hospitals that refused to provide emergency abortion care to our client, a woman at risk of severe blood loss, sepsis, or death after her water broke. This was the first federal enforcement action against a hospital for denying emergency abortion care following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe.- In Spring 2023, we weighed in with courts in support of the Biden administration's appeal of Judge Kacsmaryk's decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, et al., v. U.S. Food & Drug Administration, et al. This unprecedented and dangerous decision overturned the Food and Drug Administration's expertise and nearly 25-year-old approval of mifepristone, one of the medications in a two-drug protocol that is now used in over half of abortions in this country. The briefs NWLC joined debunked false assertions about mifepristone and its safety record that Judge Kacsmaryk relied on in his decision and explained how suspending the FDA's approval of the drug would have immediate and severe consequences to the administrative process and our systems of democracy.- Litigated in the courts to protect LGBTQI+ people's access to health care: - In March 2023, we joined an amicus brief in support of Sgt. Anna Lange, a sheriff's deputy in Perry, Georgia, who is filing a lawsuit against the county where she works for refusing to allow her employer-sponsored health insurance plan to cover her gender-affirmation surgery. Our amicus brief in support of Ms. Lange explained to the court that when an employer uses a facially discriminatory policy, like an exclusion on coverage of gender-affirming care, there is no additional burden on a plaintiff to prove that the employer acted with discriminatory intent.- In April 2023, we filed a class action lawsuit in California challenging Aetna's discriminatory coverage policy that allegedly requires LGBTQ people seeking to get pregnant through fertility treatments to pay more and wait longer to access the fertility benefits covered by their health plans. Mara Berton, the plaintiff in the suit, seeks to recoup the significant out-of-pocket costs she and all other Californians similarly situated have incurred, as well as nationwide injunctive relief.- Weighed in with a court to protect against racism and medical exploitation in health care: - In February 2023, we joined a renewed amicus brief, continuing to support the Lacks family's claim of unjust enrichment against Thermo Fisher Scientific, a multi-billion-dollar biotechnology corporation that continues to profit from sales of the "HeLa" cells that were non-consensually and non-therapeutically harvested by white doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital from Mrs. Henrietta Lacks's cervix in the 1950's. Our brief places Thermo Fisher Scientific's actions within the disturbing history of systemic medical exploitation of poor, Black, and Indigenous people and argues that the discriminatory "norms" of the past must not insulate Thermo Fisher Scientific's ongoing wrongful conduct from liability.- In Spring 2023, led advocacy days with veteran service organizations to support access to abortion care through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs due to the agency's new policy allowing for abortion in cases of rape, incest, and life or health endangerment of the pregnant person.- Led work to expand contraceptive access and remove barriers to contraception, including important action from federal administrative agencies. This included leading the coalition response to the January 2023 proposed rule that would rescind in large part the Trump administration rule that allowed virtually any employer or university to exempt itself from the Affordable Care Act requirement that insurance plans must cover contraception without out-of-pocket costs.- Provided targeted assistance to a range of state-level partners working to defeat harmful measures restricting or banning abortion and contraception and working to move forward proactive measures that protect access to reproductive health care. - Assisted around 400 individuals navigating contraceptive coverage questions through the CoverHer hotline. In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, threats to access to contraception are heightened, and it's more important than ever that people are able to take control of their reproductive lives through their preferred method of birth control.- In May 2023, we released Defiant: Stories from Abortion Providers on the Front Lines, a collection of interviews with abortion providers in states across the country telling the stories of their work and lives, in their own words. The goal of this campaign was to expose our audience to the employment barriers, threats, and violence that abortion providers face every day, but especially since the fall of Roe v. Wade.- Published blogs and fact sheets explaining how the right to abortion connects to other issues, including economic security, labor rights, and bodily autonomy for trans and intersex youth - Continued our "Destigmatizing Abortion" campaign created to counter harmful narratives and misinformation in the fight for abortion.

TIME'S UP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND AND LEGAL NETWORK FOR GENDER EQUITYAssisting Individuals Who Experience Sex Discrimination at Work, School, or When Seeking Health Care- Through the Legal Network for Gender Equity and the TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund, between the launch of the Fund through May 2023, we connected 4,823 individuals facing situations involving workplace sex harassment and/or related retaliation with legal help. About 40 percent of those individuals identify as people of color and about 80 percent identify as low-income. In addition, during this same time period, the Fund provided funding and connections to public relations professionals in 134 matters involving workplace sex harassment and/or related retaliation.- Here are two examples of cases that were supported, in part, by the TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund:- During one of Laura Zuniga's first cross-country trucking assignments, she was sexually assaulted by her male co-driver-and forced to keep driving. In March 2023, Laura finally won a financial settlement from the trucking company but has not ceased in her tireless advocacy to protect fellow women drivers.- Over three years ago, a legion of women survivors-former cheerleaders and marketing employees of the Washington Commanders-exposed the daily sexual harassment and misogyny perpetrated under Dan Snyder's leadership. The TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund helped support Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, two lawyers from our Legal Network for Gender Equity, in their efforts to drive attention to this culture of abuse and pursue justice for these women.- Between July 2022 and June 2023, hosted five webinars for attorneys in the Legal Network for Gender Equity on topics ranging from trauma-informed lawyering to the power of collective action to address workplace sex discrimination.

INCOME SECURITY AND CHILD CARE- Throughout 2023, spearheaded advocacy efforts around the looming child care "funding cliff" in September 2023-when billions of dollars of emergency child care funding from the pandemic expired. - Began the preliminary work of pushing for an investment of at least $16 billion in the child care sector to stave off shrinking child care spots, staffing shortages, and rising prices that will disrupt both families and our economy writ large.- Bolstered public education about the importance of this $16 billion investment with blogs and social content.- Worked to secure a historic increase in appropriations for the Child Care and Development Block Grant in 2022.- Led gender justice work to protect investments supporting women and families in the debt ceiling debate.- After nearly a decade of organizing, Vermont passed a historic bill authorizing $125 million in annual investment for child care in May 2023-a model of victory for the rest of our nation. NWLC was a key source of technical assistance to partners in Vermont, helping advocates design an equitable and affordable system that will work for all Vermont young children and their families.- Built and ultimately launched a groundbreaking storytellers initiative-Sparking Change-that centers the voices and experiences of women or nonbinary people of color closest to the intersecting issues of income insecurity and child caregiving. Storytellers from New Mexico and South Carolina are sharing their expertise with the greater public and decision-makers so that policies and initiatives are grounded in lived experience and needs.- On Child Care Worker Appreciation Day, storyteller Merline A. Gallegos wrote an article to illustrate what it really means to be a child care worker in this country-calling attention to the long hours, the poverty wages, the lack of government support, and how "my salary does not increase as my skills and experience do." - In August 2022, we released a groundbreaking report about the roots of discriminatory housing policy. Our housing system has turned discrimination, exclusion, and exploitation into assets for the wealthy. This paper underscores that housing justice is gender justice and outlines solutions to advance housing as a human right, not a commodity.- In Spring 2023, we led a public messaging campaign around the CHIPS Act-which requires any semiconductor manufacturer requesting over $150 million in direct funding from the Commerce Department under the CHIPS Act to submit plans for providing affordable, accessible, reliable, and high-quality child care for the workers who build and facilitate their plants. Published a public statement, op-ed, and gave press interviews, explaining how this requirement will help shape a diverse and skilled workforce that includes more women and people of color. - In May 2023, we launched Who Cares, a new messaging campaign to shift our culture's understanding of child care as a private responsibility to recognition that it is a public good-attempting to compel public investments into this underfunded, under-resourced sector.- After President Biden signed over 50 executive actions to strengthen our care system in April 2023, we broke down what the tangible impact those actions will have on real families through an informative, conversational blog.- In November 2022, published a fact sheet on how refundable tax credit expansions will help build long-term economic prosperity for women and families.- Published communication materials in support of maintaining and improving the Child Tax Credit, which can help working families offset the incredibly high cost of child care. (The price of child care exceeds in?state tuition at a public four?year university in many states). - Analyzing the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey, researched and released a new fact sheet in June 2023 on the uneven economic recovery from COVID-19 for women of color, disabled women, and LGBT adults who still struggle to afford basic necessities.- In June 2023, we released a groundbreaking report assessing the status of state child care assistance policies-where the gaps are, where progress is being made, and where further progress is needed. This analysis of policies as of February 2022 shows that the substantial federal relief funding that was provided during the pandemic allowed states to make notable progress in closing the persistent gaps in our child care assistance system.

EDUCATIONAddressing Educational Barriers Faced by Women, Girls, and LGBTQI+ Individuals- Led efforts to restore and strengthen Title IX's protections against sex discrimination and harassment in schools. In 2020, the Trump administration issued Title IX rules that decimated protections against sexual assault and other forms of sex-based harassment in schools and took other steps to roll back protections for LGBTQI+ students. The Biden administration proposed a new Title IX rule in June 2022-which would restore those civil rights protections for student survivors of sexual assault and harassment, while strengthening protections for LGBTQI+ students and pregnant and parenting students-but it is still not finalized. - In July and August 2022, provided analysis and comments on the Biden administration's proposed Title IX rule, while leading efforts to engage a wide range of organizations and the public in support of strengthened Title IX protections, through the creation of explainers, template comments, public petitions, and blogs, lifting up particular aspects of the proposed rules, such as protections for pregnant and parenting students. - In April 2023, NWLC led a coalition letter urging that a final rule be promulgated, and in June 2023, on the 51st anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, NWLC led 75 gender justice, survivor advocacy, and civil rights organizations in writing to express our deep disappointment that the Biden administration had recently announced that the release of the Department of Education's Title IX final rule was delayed from May 2023 to October 2023. - Connected student survivors and student leaders to press outlets so they could share their stories about the devastating impact of Trump's Title IX rules on college campuses across our country. - Bolstered public education around the importance of overturning Trump's Title IX rules, publishing blogs and social content, and regularly speaking to the press about the need for strong Title IX protections.- Pushed for Title IX rules to protect trans athletes and to ensure that all women and girls, including trans women and girls, have a chance to play and to experience the belonging and lessons in leadership that come from participating in sports: - When the Biden administration's June 2022 proposed Title IX rule did not include protections for trans athletes, NWLC spoke out, co-leading a letter in August 2022 joined by 49 other women's rights and gender justice organizations calling for the administration to move forward in rulemaking on this issue and highlighting the urgency of action given a barrage of vicious legislative attacks on LGBTQI+ students by state lawmakers across the country, including through recently passed state laws that ban transgender, nonbinary, and intersex students from participating in sports. - When the administration proposed a Title IX trans athlete rule in the spring of 2023, NWLC submitted comments on the Biden administration's latest Title IX rule, expressing our support for a clear Title IX standard that would invalidate the categorical anti-trans sports bans that have been targeting transgender and intersex women and girls in far too many states. - We also shared key recommendations on ways to add clarity for schools and students, who need strong enforcement of Title IX's broad protection against the enforcement of sex stereotypes (because all women and girls lose out when schools try to tell students there is one "right way" to be a girl). - NWLC also led a coalition of LGBTQI+ organizations in creating a joint fact sheet on the rule, engaged members of Congress in support of Title IX protections for trans athletes, and undertook public education on the rule through blog posts and press engagement.- Litigated in the courts to support trans students and LGBTQI+ students: - In August 2022, we joined an amicus brief in support of Michael Grabowski, who reported to his school that his teammates were harassing him because they thought he was gay. In response, the school dismissed him from the track team and canceled his athletics scholarship. A federal district court incorrectly held that Title IX does not prohibit sexual orientation-based harassment. Our brief explains that the district court greatly erred. Its decision ignored the Supreme Court's clear statement in Bostock v. Clayton County that sex discrimination includes sexual orientation-based discrimination, a position also held by the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice. - In November 2022, we filed an amicus brief in support of A.M., a transgender girl who could be kicked off her elementary school softball team as a result of Indiana's anti-trans sports ban. NWLC's amicus brief discusses the importance of ensuring that all girls can access the well-documented benefits of playing sports, free from discrimination. - In April 2023, we filed an amicus brief in support of a middle-school transgender girl who challenged West Virginia's anti-trans sports ban. (B.P.J. is identified by initials to protect her privacy). We are supporting B.P.J.'s appeal of a negative lower court decision and asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to uphold existing precedent that Title IX and the U.S. Constitution protect the rights of all LGBTQI+ students to access education free from discrimination. We explained how anti-trans sports bans are deeply linked to sex stereotypes that harm all women and girls.- Other litigation in support of students: - In August 2022, we filed an amicus brief in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina in support of the universities and their holistic race-conscious admissions policies. When the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious affirmative action in college admissions on June 29, 2023, we released a statement "in solidarity with the college and university students still to come who will be harmed by this outcome," promising to "fight alongside students and work with policymakers to ensure schools continue to prioritize diversity and find ways to ensure that all students can thrive." - Following an amicus brief led by NWLC in 2021 in support of the women athletes on Michigan State University's varsity swimming and diving team challenging the university's attempt to eliminate the program-in January 2023, the parties in Balow v. Michigan State University reached a settlement agreement that prohibits MSU from cutting any women's team from now until the end of the 2029-30 school year. - In February 2023, we joined another amicus brief in support of Jane Doe, a student survivor at the University of Kentucky. When Jane withdrew from the University's program and sued it for mishandling her sexual assault complaint, the University retaliated against her in its investigation of her complaint, citing her lawsuit. The brief explains the Title IX statute is broad, as it protects all "persons" (not just current students) against sex discrimination in "all the operations" of a school (including in disciplinary proceedings, which are inherently "school-related"). - In April 2023, we joined an amicus brief submitted in support of four disabled students who sued their Georgia school district under Title II of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). A federal district court held that they could recover neither emotional distress damages nor other compensatory damages that were not based on emotional distress. The amicus brief explains why the Eleventh Circuit must reverse the district court's decision to ensure full enforcement of the ADA and to protect the ability of victims of disability discrimination-and indeed, all forms of discrimination-to seek justice in the courts.- In April 2023, we released an eye-opening brief about how the harms of the pandemic have not been distributed equally-but instead have fallen heavily on girls of color and lesbian and bisexual girls. Girls in high school, on the verge of beginning higher education, entering the workforce, and becoming independent, need public investments that help them thrive and achieve their full potential.- On June 23, 2023, we released and distributed two reports on state laws protecting pregnant and parenting students in secondary schools and making recommendations for best practices in state legislation-one focused on lactation accommodations and one focused on flexible school attendance policies.- In March 2023, we led a letter joined by other state and national women's and girls' rights organizations vehemently opposing the so-called "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act".- Sponsored "She Deserves Dignity and Joy" in July 2022, an in-person event in Washington, D.C., celebrating Black girls and uplifting a vision of safe and inclusive schools that meet student needs.