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08/26/2011
Workers' Rights

Bloomberg L.P Decision Takes Women's Equality Two Steps Back

By Galen Sherwin, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 1:33pm

Today, as we celebrate Women's Equality Day, commemorating the passage of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote, I find myself reflecting on a central lesson of the struggle for suffrage: the power to effect political change through collective action is critical to achieving equality. There have been some days recently when I feel like that lesson has been largely forgotten, particularly in the courts.

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06/07/2011

Louisiana School Board Suspends Sex-Segregation Program

By Galen Sherwin, ACLU Women's Rights Project & Lenora M. Lapidus, Women's Rights Project at 3:24pm

A local school board in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, voted Thursday night to suspend a program at a public middle school that has for two years separated girls from boys in core curriculum classes. The decision was announced as the ACLU was poised to file papers in the District Court seeking to stop Rene Rost Middle School (RRMS) from providing sex-segregated classes during the 2011–12 school year, following a favorable ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in April.

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06/21/2012
Title IX

Visiting Capitol Hill in Celebration of 40 Years of Title IX

By Galen Sherwin, ACLU Women's Rights Project & Amy L. Katz, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 3:02pm

Forty years ago, we would have been rarities, women lawyers. Congresswoman Gwen Moore would have been a greater rarity: an African American female member of the House of Representatives. Yesterday we were on Capitol Hill to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a law that helped make our careers possible: Title IX.

We attended a panel briefing, hosted by the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education and Rep. Moore in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Title IX and the launch of a new NCWGE report. Although Title IX is best known for its impact on increasing participation by women and girls in athletics, the report and the panel covered several of the less well-known applications of the landmark law, including career and technical education (CTE), science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), sexual harassment, the rights of pregnant and parenting students to complete their education, and single-sex education.

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06/19/2012
Breastfeeding Rights

Congratulations Moms. This One Is for Us!

By Galen Sherwin, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 3:49pm

Yesterday we told you about an amazing change in the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), lactation policy for nursing mothers. The new policy allows nursing mothers, to request extended or additional breaks to pump during the LSAT, for up to one year following childbirth.

We got involved after MomsRising contacted us about one of their members, Ashley Foxx, who was denied a lactation-related modification and was told she would either have to take the test without additional time to pump, wean her baby in time for the test date, or take the test when she was no longer breastfeeding. 

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05/08/2011

For Mother's Day, Screw Chocolate! Give Us Equality!

By Galen Sherwin, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 10:08am

When I was in the third grade, my mom gave me a button to wear to school that said “I’m a mini-feminist.” Yes, it was the 1970s. And yes, I got teased. When I came home from school in tears, my mom explained that wearing the button was an important way to speak out for equality.

That simple lesson had a profound impact on my life: not only did I wear the button on my book bag from that day forward — I also have dedicated my professional life to the fight for equality for women.

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02/23/2011

Restoring Dignity on the Job to Breastfeeding Mothers

By Galen Sherwin, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 6:04pm

Returning to work after having a new baby can pose real barriers for women who are breastfeeding. Consider the following real-life examples:

  • When one employee returned from maternity leave, her employer criticized her for needing to express breast milk (or "pump") as frequently as she did because she thought her baby should be eating more solid food, told her she had to stop pumping when her baby turned a year old, and fired her when she asserted her rights.
  • A woman who worked for a local county agency and whose job required her to drive between different locations throughout the day was prohibited from pumping in her unmarked, county-issued car—even if she covered up and completely screened the inside from public view. She was left with no option but to pump in restaurant bathrooms along her route.
  • When one woman asked for a private place to pump, her employer told her the only available space was a room used to store computer servers; the room was kept so cold in order to prevent the equipment from overheating that the woman had to wear her hat, scarf, gloves, and winter coat the entire time she was pumping.

Not everyone who has given birth wants to breastfeed (and many women have difficulties doing so, for a variety of reasons). But for those women who are breastfeeding, incidents like these can force them to choose between giving up breastfeeding and taking time off from work. For most women, taking time off is not a realistic option, either because their employers won't grant them anything beyond the 12 weeks of unpaid leave mandated by federal law or because they couldn't afford to take time off even if it were available. (Shockingly, the U.S. is one of only two industrialized countries with no nationwide mandate for paid parental leave— the other, Australia, offers a full year of unpaid, job-protected leave).

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10/26/2010

What Does Birth Control Have to do With Your Mortgage?

By Galen Sherwin, ACLU Women's Rights Project & Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 2:19pm

Imagine if you were applying for a loan and were asked to write a letter to the bank discussing your "family planning." Believe it or not, that is what happened to one woman in Pennsylvania who was applying along with her husband for a home mortgage.

Indeed, as the New York Times first reported, some lenders are applying newly tightened restrictions on home loan credit in the wake of the foreclosure crisis in a way that has resulted in pregnant women, women on parental leave, couples, and families with children being inappropriately questioned about irrelevant aspects of their private lives and subjected to pregnancy discrimination and sex stereotypes.

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03/11/2010

Fellow Travelers

By Galen Sherwin, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 12:04pm

I represented Dr. M. on a case, and I will never forget what he told me about how he came to the work of providing abortion care. He was working as an OB-GYN at a hospital in upstate New York, performing a few abortions a year after the only other local abortion provider retired. Through NARAL Pro-Choice America and the National Abortion Federation, he connected with other abortion providers, and “got inspired” to step up to fill the gap. He opened a small outpatient clinic connected to the hospital, and eventually made the move to a full-time family planning clinic, where he has practiced for six years.

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