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Photo by Ted Kirk, courtesy of The Appleseed Foundation FEATURES > Girls Confined to Youth Prisons in the United States > Sex-Segregated Schools: Separate and Unequal > Violation of Incarcerated Women's Civil Rights in NJ > Modern Slavery: Domestic Worker Abuse by Foreign Diplomats in the U.S. > Blog: Selene Kaye on Strip-Searching and Solitary Confinement of Girls in Prison > Blog: Nikki Anthony on Sex-Segregation in Kentucky Public School > Blog: Sandra Park on Fair Housing for Women > Report: A Blueprint for Meeting the Needs of Girls in TYC Custody > Major Supreme Court Decisions on Women's Rights About the Women's Rights Project Since 1972, the ACLU Women's Rights Project has worked to empower women and advance equality. Many people, before and since, have contributed to our effort: ACLU co-founders Jane Addams, Emily Greene Balch, Crystal Eastman, and Jeanette Rankin; Dorothy Kenyon and Pauli Murray, Board of Directors members; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, first Director of the Project; and numerous others. Demanding basic economic and social opportunities for all women — regardless of race, class, or national origin — WRP works to ensure that women and their families can enjoy the benefits of full equality and participation in every sphere of society. More About the WRP >> LEARN MORE > Women's Rights on the Agenda > A Tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg > Leaders Through the Years > Project Reports:      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 and that girls and boys receive equal educational opportunities.

Lilly Ledbetter to Address DNC on Womens Equality Day (8/25/2008)
Washington, DC – Pay equity pioneer Lilly Ledbetter, whose landmark Supreme Court case Ledbetter v. Goodyear ignited a firestorm of debate over the need for stronger protections against wage discrimination, will address the 2008 Democratic National Convention on Women’s Equality Day – Tuesday, August 26.

ACLU Hails Senate Markup of Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (7/31/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union hailed today’s Senate Judiciary Committee markup of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) as an important step in ending the persistent exploitation and enslavement of domestic workers by foreign diplomats. The provisions in the TVPRA will help put in place important mechanisms that can prevent exploitation by providing domestic workers with critical information, creating a monitoring system, training consular officers who issue visas and requiring an employment contract between the worker and employer.

Paycheck Fairness Bill Necessary to Strengthen Equal Pay Protections (7/31/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union urges the House of Representatives to pass H.R. 1338, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would amend the Equal Pay Act, one of the most important laws addressing pay discrimination. The bill, with 230 co-sponsors to date, would strengthen and improve the effectiveness of the Equal Pay Act by requiring employers to demonstrate that differences in wages among employees are not based on gender, strengthening penalties for equal pay violations, bolstering the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) ability to handle pay discrimination cases, and requiring the EEOC to develop regulations directing employers to collect wage data, reported by race, sex and national origin, of employees.

Court Bars Corrections Department From Sending More Women To Inhumane Conditions In NJ Men's Prison (7/24/2008)
TRENTON – In three separate opinions today totaling 77 pages, the New Jersey Superior Court stopped the Department of Corrections (DOC) from transferring any more women prisoners to the New Jersey State Prison (NJSP), a men's Supermax prison, for the duration of an ongoing legal battle over previous unlawful transfers. The court also granted the women's request to pursue their claims as a class action. In addition, the court denied a motion by the DOC, brought on five separate legal grounds, to dismiss the women prisoners' complaint, and also rejected the DOC's motion to terminate the case.

ACLU Challenges Solitary Confinement And Unwarranted Strip Searches Of Girls Held In Texas Youth Prison (6/12/2008)
AUSTIN, TX - The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Texas filed a class action lawsuit today on behalf of five girls – all of whom have histories of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse – held in the Brownwood State School. Brownwood is a "high security" youth prison located in central Texas and operated by the Texas Youth Commission (TYC), the state's juvenile corrections agency. The ACLU charges that TYC subjects the girls to unwarranted solitary confinement, routine strip searches and brutal physical force.