Dear Friend, 

On behalf of the Board and staff, the California Women’s Law Center wishes you and yours a safe and healthy holiday season. And, although we remain on high alert regarding the status of the pandemic and its variants, we hope you are able to safely gather with friends and family this year.With your support, in 2021 we impacted thousands of women and families throughout California by:

– Submitting 7 amicus briefs and co-signed an additional 18 amicus briefs
– Holding 6 legal trainings on gender equity, domestic violence and tenants’ rights, and 2 community education events
– Submitting comments to the U.S. Department of Education on proposed Title IX regulations
– Advocating for 34 state bills and budget items, 16 of which became law
– Publishing 3 separate reports covering the deceptive practices of crisis pregnancy centers, breastfeeding access in California schools, and lactation accommodations in Los Angeles County higher education institutions  

Advancing Economic Security
CWLC remains committed to addressing the economic factors which can impact the ability for women and other vulnerable populations to live healthy and fulfilling lives. We continued to hold our free, online bimonthly housing clinics to help low-income tenants understand their legal rights, thereby helping them stay housed. In the next year we will expand our housing clinics to directly assist veterans and survivors of domestic violence.  

Securing Title IX Enforcement 
Enacted in 1972 to protect women and girls from gender-based discrimination in schools and other educational programs that receive federal assistance, Title IX has been federal law for almost 50 years, yet many schools and colleges remain out of compliance. CWLC assists high schools, colleges, and universities in complying with the law, and we continue to be a leader in Title IX enforcement in the areas of athletic opportunities, pregnancy and breastfeeding accommodations, and campus sexual assault and harassment.

This year CWLC trained attorneys and community members on a range of topics including the ways in which COVID-19 impacted equal athletic opportunities, treatment, and benefits for girls; the importance of breastfeeding access and accommodations; and the changes that were made to Title IX under former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ tenure as well as the potential modifications the Biden administration could implement.

CWLC continues to protect pregnant and parenting students and employees from discrimination in California. At the beginning of this year, we released our “ABCs of Breastfeeding” report which audited 414 school districts throughout California. This report built upon our earlier work in 2016 and 2019 and led to an increased compliance rate among the districts we surveyed, with 84% getting a grade of A or B regarding accessible breastfeeding accommodations for their students and employees.  

Over the last year, CWLC has continued to advocate for female student-athletes by working with several school districts throughout the state to implement changes to their athletic programs to ensure equitable access.

Protecting Survivors of Violence 
In 2021, CWLC held a series of legal trainings on domestic violence restraining orders and submitted amicus briefs on several important aspects of domestic violence. 

In one case, our brief argued that when courts issue mutual restraining orders—often as the result of implicit bias and gender stereotypes—this action can allow abusers to deflect responsibility for their behavior and can motivate abusers to use mutual restraining orders as a tactic to discredit and further harm survivors. We are happy to report that this fall the California Court of Appeal issued a ground-breaking opinion lifting the restraining order issued against the survivor, affirming the order against her abuser, and reversing a joint custody order affecting the parties’ child. 

In another case, we submitted a brief supporting a domestic violence survivor by arguing that courts should grant motions to set aside default judgments brought by domestic violence survivors who cannot be served because they have fled from abuse and are intentionally unreachable for their own protection. Setting aside such judgments protects the critical need for survivors’ confidentiality, helps prevent abusers from seeking default judgments against survivors as a means of ongoing abuse, and allows survivors to litigate the main issues in their case rather than having them decided based on procedural arguments.

CWLC also submitted an important amicus brief to the California Supreme Court arguing school disciplinary proceedings can be fair without live cross-examination which frequently retraumatizes survivors.  

Fighting for Women’s Health Care and Reproductive Access
Sadly, 2021 has been the worst year on record in the United States regarding a person’s right to an abortion with more than 600 restrictions going into effect across the country. CWLC continues to advocate for women’s access to reproductive health care and we will remain vigilant in our efforts to ensure this right exists for all. 

CWLC and our partners, The Alliance: State Advocates for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, released a new report exposing how one anti-abortion strategy has been quietly unfolding for decades in states across the country, including California. “Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry in Nine States” captured many findings, including the fact that the number of CPCs in California (179) is 20% higher than the number of abortion care clinics. The report proves that even Californians need to be aware of and active in efforts to ensure all people have access to quality medical care and reproductive rights. “Designed to Deceive” underscores the insidious role CPCs play in hindering access to reproductive care and demands a legislative response to these deceitful practices.

CWLC also submitted an amicus brief in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case recently heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. This case marks the first time the Court will rule on the constitutionality of a pre-viability abortion ban since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. CWLC submitted our brief in opposition to Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, urging the Court to reject Mississippi’s unconstitutional ban and its request to overturn Roe v. Wade. Our brief urges the Supreme Court to consider the burden these restrictions would put on women who have to travel out of state to receive the care they need.

On behalf of the people we have assisted this year, we thank you for supporting the California Women’s Law Center and our efforts to achieve equity and safety for women and girls.

Much work remains to be done. Because your gift allows CWLC to meet the diverse needs of women and families, we hope we can count on your assistance in our pursuit of justice for women and girls in California and beyond. To support CWLC, please click here.