By Teo Octavia Saragi, Policy Communications Coordinator, Equal Rights Advocates
March 9 is #AAPIEqualPay Day — the approximate day in 2021 when the average Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) woman working full-time year round finally catches up to what the average white, non-Hispanic man earned in 2020.
Because AAPI women are paid only 85 cents on average for every dollar paid to white men, this means AAPI women must work a total of 15 months to earn what white men earn in just 12.
The gender wage gap varies greatly among AAPI women, including some of the widest gaps among…
By Eunice Kim, ERA Executive Coordinator
Access to civil rights begin with the right to basic safety. As Equal Rights Advocates fights for equity for AAPI women and gender-expansive people at work and school, we call for immediate action to address the increased hatred and violence currently endangering the AAPI community.
In June, 2020, Donald Trump referred to coronavirus as the “China Plague” and encouraged an increase in anti-Asian racism while fueling stigmatizing attitudes. …
By Mia Doe,* ERA student survivor client
*Name altered at the client’s request to protect her identity.
After sexual assault, there’s no playbook, no guide, no rules. Trust me, I asked. But there isn’t a one size fits all solution.
For me, the night after the assault, I was getting a forensic exam and the next morning, I was beginning my final year of my undergraduate education I as if nothing happened. What choice did I have? Life keeps going, and you have to somehow pick up whatever’s left of yourself, paint a smile on your face, and find a…
By Noreen Farrell, Executive Director, Equal Rights Advocates
The first 100 days of the Biden-Harris Administration brings critical opportunities to change the course of this country. Equal Rights Advocates thanks the Biden-Harris Transition Team for reaching out to our team and other advocacy organizations across the nation, who are close to communities in crisis, to listen and inform the road ahead. We understand the needs are many, and the harm inflicted over the past four years cannot be undone in just 100 days. But for women workers of color on the frontlines during this pandemic supporting our economy, and for…
The year 2020 was unprecedented in its demand for courage, compassion, and a bold revisioning of the unjust systems that affect all of us. We saw with devastating clarity cracks in our health system, racist power structures on display, dangers to our democracy, and risks to low paid workers who have always been essential to our economy. The mandate to address gender, racial, and economic injustice at the heart of this perfect storm was never more dire.
This year proved that when we join forces — in all our diversity of experiences and collective power — to demand change in…
Virginia’s Story
“I found a team that believed in me & encouraged me to find out how strong I really am.”
After surviving sexual assault in high school, Virginia experienced further harm when her school mishandled her case. So she worked with Equal Rights Advocates to seek healing and justice. Not only did Virginia reclaim her story, but her lawsuit with ERA also required Sacramento School District to rewrite its policies on sexual assault and harassment with ERA’s guidance, impacting 49,000 students.
Candice’s Story
“I was mistreated at work while pregnant. …
By Noreen Farrell, Executive Director, Equal Rights Advocates
On days like this, political winds feel determinative. They affect the pace of our progress toward justice and equality. They can fan flames of hate and oppression and threaten immediate relief for millions in crisis across the nation. In an excruciatingly close election like the unfolding Presidential race, these political winds reveal critical work ahead needed to unify the nation on issues ranging from public health to gender and racial justice to economic recovery.
But as we grapple with and strategize about the various scenarios presented by Election 2020, remember this: political…
By Noreen Farrell & Delia Coleman, Equal Rights Advocates
The confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett would put our country in grave danger. We risk losing progress made, yes, but worse than that, we risk making her regressive politics the national precedent. We won’t mince words — Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s politics and record are a disaster for working women and their families, students who experience discrimination in education, the LGBTQ+ community, and voting access for communities of color.
With ACB’s brief but telling record (because we could glean nothing from her lack of forthright responses during her confirmation hearing)…
By Noreen Farrell, Executive Director, Equal Rights Advocates
This week in 2016, the public heard for the first time the now-infamous Access Hollywood tape. In it, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump boasted about sexually assaulting unnamed women, with no consequences.
Many thought the horrifying recording would disqualify Donald Trump from the presidency in the court of public opinion. Surely, a person who bragged about sexual assault, who had 26 assault allegations lodged against him, who thought it was all so funny, surely this person would not be elected to office.
Women voters must acknowledge and act on these facts. …
By Isha Khanzode
Throughout the past year and a half, a blind search for justice after sexual assault has revealed itself to me as a Sisyphean process: a constant pushing of a boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down when it reaches the top. At the very least, I’m lucky the boulder hasn’t crushed me on its multiple trips back down the hill like it has with other student survivors of sexual violence.
The forces that put me in that boulder-pushing place, however, have forever tainted my view of the “justice” system. I thought that after being the victim…
