Current Advocacy

ERA has been on the forefront of efforts to stop sexual harassment and gender-based bullying so that learning is not limited by fear and intimidation. ERA’s work breaks stereotypes that limit girls in math and science and makes sure that girls receive the same chance to learn and grow through sports. ERA also represents female educators and coaches fighting sex discrimination in their work because how they are treated provides a powerful lesson in equality to those they teach.

Ending Sexual Harassment and Gender-Based Bullying in Schools

ERA has been on the forefront of efforts to stop sexual harassment and gender-based bullying so that learning is not limited by fear and intimidation.

• Over the past ten years, calls to ERA’s Advice and Counseling Hotline have increased by 400%. We routinely hear about brutal bullying based on gender identity, sexual harassment of young women by educators, and peer sexual harassment and sexual assault.
• ERA is working closely with students, parents, and school administrators to address these atrocities quickly so that our clients can resume learning in a safe school environment. ERA is partnering with Morrison Foerster LLP to continue a Title IX investigation of 116 Bay Area Schools that is being watched closely by advocates and educators across the country. ERA is reviewing the policies and practices of these schools to ensure that they adequately prevent and remedy sexual harassment, assault and other forms of sex discrimination. The action was prompted by ERA’s review of a troubling report by the investigative unit of NBC Bay Area on October 30, 2012, which revealed widespread ignorance of and non-compliance with basic requirements of Title IX among 200 Bay Area schools. Learn more.

Ensuring Equal Treatment and Opportunities for Female Students and Educators

ERA’s work ensures that female students have equal opportunities in the classroom and on the sports fields and that educators work in an environment free of sex discrimination.

• Mansourian v. UC Regents: In 2012, ERA successfully resolved this landmark case on behalf of women wrestlers at UC Davis after prevailing at trial on Title IX liability. The case was the first to confirm that students need not provide schools with “notice” before filing a suit challenging a school’s refusal to provide equal athletic opportunities. Learn more. ERA’s co-counsel are Equity Legal, The Sturdevant Law Firm, and Duckworth Peters Lebowitz Olivier LLP.
• Brust v. UC Regents: ERA continues to award athletic scholarships to female athletes from the Women In Sports Equity (WISE) Fund, a key term in a settlement by ERA and co-counsel of this Title IX class action suit on behalf of women athletes at UC Davis seeking equal athletic opportunities. UC also agreed improve the ratio of female participation in sports. ERA has awarded over $100,000 in grants from the WISE Fund. Learn more.
• ERA is also ensuring equal treatment of educators. ERA recently succeeded in helping Dr. Sumangala Bhattacharya, a female professor at Pitzer College, secure tenure. Pitzer College reconsidered its previous denial of tenure after ERA intervened with a complaint of discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and race. ERA’s co-counsel is Bryan Schwartz Law and Campins Benham Baker LLP.
• ERA is using Title IX in novel applications, assisting students who want to breastfeed at school and female fire recruits facing discrimination in federally-funded programs. Learn more about the $2.46 million jury verdict victory in Maher v. City of Fresno.

Empowering Girls as Leaders and Breaking Stereotypes

• ERA’s Student Leadership Board: In 2012, with funding from the Rockefeller Family Fund, ERA launched the Student Leadership Board, a diverse Board of high school and college students who advise ERA’s education equity work. Students participate in a series of workshops to help them build their skills as individuals and empower their abilities as community leaders. Learn more.
• As part of ERA’s Equal Pay efforts, ERA also conducts Know-Your-Rights trainings for college students, educating students about their right to equal pay and how to best negotiate a fair starting salary. See ERA’s Equal Pay Training Materials here.
• ERA promotes girls in all academic pursuits, including those traditionally dominated by men. ERA has kicked off a series of events to promote girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. ERA recently released a Women In STEM Fact Sheet examining the pipeline of girls into STEM related fields and other strategies to promote the advancement of women in STEM.

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