Home : Women's Rights

FEATURES > ACLU Challenges Patents On Breast Cancer Genes > NEW BOOK: The Rights of Women: The Authoritative ACLU Guide to Women's Rights > Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Title IX, Your Rights, and Your College's Responsibilities > White House Council Places Women and Girls at Front of Administration's Agenda > Seizing the Moment to Engage the Obama Administration in Real Change for Women and Girls > Blog: A Step Towards Fair Pay With a Stroke of a Pen > Discrimination Against Muslim Women > Girls Confined to Youth Prisons in the United States > Sex-Segregated Schools: Separate and Unequal > Title IX: Gender Equity in Education > Violation of Incarcerated Women's Civil Rights in NJ > Modern Slavery: Domestic Worker Abuse by Foreign Diplomats in the U.S. About the Women's Rights Project The Women's Rights Project (WRP) was founded in 1972 by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and since that time has been a leader in the legal battles to ensure women's full equality in American society, including as an active participant in virtually all major gender discrimination litigation in the Supreme Court. The goal of WRP is to secure gender equality and ensure that all women and girls are able to lead lives of dignity. WRP advocates on behalf of the most marginalized communities to end structural oppression for all women. The Women's Rights Project works to empower women and advance gender equality, through an integrated program that combines litigation, legislative advocacy, public education, and international human rights strategies. WRP advocates on behalf of poor women, women of color, and immigrant women who face discrimination and other barriers to equality, with a particular focus on equity in employment, equal educational opportunities, ending violence against women, and addressing the needs of women and girls in the criminal and juvenile justice systems. LEARN MORE > History of Women's Rights at the ACLU > Women's Rights on the Agenda > A Tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg > Leaders Through the Years > Project Reports:      2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 The Women's Rights Project focuses on four core areas: Employment WRP advocates on behalf of low-wage immigrant women workers, works to eliminate welfare disparities, and seeks to end workplace discrimination. Violence Against Women WRP is committed to advancing battered women's civil rights, assisting women in their efforts to keep themselves and their children safe, and challenging the housing and employment discrimination experienced by so many battered women, especially low-income and women of color. Criminal Justice WRP addresses the harms to women and girls caught up in the criminal and juvenile justice systems, including their conditions of confinement, and the impact of sentencing and incarceration policies on women and their children. Education WRP is dedicated to ensuring that public schools do not become sex-segregated, that girls and boys receive equal educational opportunities, and that girls and women are not deprived of equal educational opportunities because of sexual harassment or assault.

Florida Organizations Release First-Ever Legal Guide for Pregnant Teens (6/30/2009)
MIAMI – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida announces the release of The Legal Guide for Pregnant Teens in Florida, an all-inclusive resource for teens about their legal rights as pregnant and parenting minors. The guide is the result of collaborative work by several organizations and individuals, and is designed to address many of the issues faced by pregnant teens in Florida.

Missouri Judge Strikes Down Attempted Ban On Equal Opportunity Programs (6/27/2009)
JEFFERSON CITY, MO – A Missouri circuit court judge late Friday struck down a proposed ballot initiative aimed at amending the state's constitution to outlaw equal opportunity programs in the state. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last December charging that an anti-affirmative action ballot initiative proposed by Timothy Asher and the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative should not be circulated for signatures because it violates the Missouri Constitution by seeking to trick and defraud the state's voters in attempting to ban an array of equal opportunity programs.

ACLU Marks 46th Anniversary of Equal Pay Act With Call For Paycheck Fairness Act (6/9/2009)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union marks the 46th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act with a call for the Senate to pass S. 182, the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that gives employees the legal tools needed to fight wage discrimination. Forty-six years ago tomorrow – on June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, a law that prohibits wage discrimination. Unfortunately, over the last few decades, loopholes and weak remedies have watered down the Act’s effectiveness.

Court Orders Alabama Property Manager And Landlord To Pay Damages For Sexual Harassment Of Tenant (6/2/2009)
MONTGOMERY, AL – A federal court in Alabama ordered that a real estate agent and the owner of rental units the agent managed in Montgomery, Alabama, must pay damages to a low-income renter for sexual harassment. The agent had repeatedly tried to coerce the renter into having sex with him and then raised her rent and attempted to evict her when she refused. The ruling from the U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Alabama came late yesterday.

Senators Dodd And Mikulski To Champion Paycheck Fairness Act (5/21/2009)
WASHINGTON – Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) announced today that they will take the lead on the fight to pass of S. 182, the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that gives employees the tools to fight illegal wage disparities. Senators Dodd and Mikulski made this announcement with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and other advocates at a press conference at the Senate Visitor’s Center.