{"id":104114,"date":"2023-03-15T14:52:55","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T18:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/?p=104114"},"modified":"2023-04-20T10:55:41","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T14:55:41","slug":"the-womens-movement-needs-lawyers-and-organizers-working-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/womens-rights\/the-womens-movement-needs-lawyers-and-organizers-working-together","title":{"rendered":"The Women\u2019s Movement Needs Lawyers and Organizers Working Together"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"metadata":[1764,1763,1783,1750,2024,1752,1755,1769,1753,1768],"class_list":["post-104114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","metadata-advocacy-news","metadata-context","metadata-general-commentary","metadata-layout","metadata-length","metadata-longform","metadata-narrative-frame","metadata-national-affiliate-staff","metadata-plain-text","metadata-voice"],"acf":{"header_layout":"standard","color_scheme":false,"header_image":104200,"mobile_header_image":null,"description":"Our collaboration with Fight for 15 and tenant organizers offers a window into a truly inclusive movement.","authors":[48624],"components":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":{"text":"Legal intervention as an avenue for social change <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/other\/timeline-major-supreme-court-decisions-womens-rights\">has been central<\/a> to social, economic, and political progress for women, but is difficult to access for the people who most need it. Until recently, the mainstream women\u2019s rights movement in the United States was dominated by white and wealthy women \u2014 such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Betty Friedan \u2014 fighting for the rights of others who look like them. As a result, the movement has too often excluded and erased the experiences of non-white and working-class women, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/womens-rights\/celebrate-womens-suffrage-dont-whitewash-movements-racism\">limiting the movement\u2019s progress<\/a> in advancing equality for Black women, Indigenous women, and other women of color in this country.\r\n\r\nAs the women\u2019s movement shifts to an <a href=\"https:\/\/chicagounbound.uchicago.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&amp;httpsredir=1&amp;article=1052&amp;context=uclf\">intersectional<\/a> approach \u2014 a term coined by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/podcast\/kimberle-crenshaw-teaching-truth-about-race-america-ep-168\">Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw<\/a> to describe that identities such as race and gender cannot be isolated in understanding the oppression of people who hold multiple marginalized identities \u2014 elevating the voices and experiences of women who have been historically excluded is critical. Lawyers must ally with community organizers, who work on the ground with those most impacted, to make the women\u2019s movement more accessible and inclusive \u2014 an approach the ACLU Women\u2019s Rights Project strives to model."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"pullquote","pullquote":{"":null,"text":"Legal intervention as an avenue for social change has been central to social, economic, and political progress for women, but is difficult to access for the people who most need it.","source":"","width":"standard","alignment":"left"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":{"text":"Though I provide legal support to attorneys now, I co-founded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ithacatu.org\/\">a tenants' union<\/a> in Ithaca, New York in 2019, and I know firsthand that there is heavy skepticism between lawyers and organizers. Lawyers<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aals.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/18ClinicalImmigrationCommunityOrganizers.pdf\"> can be out of touch <\/a>with the communities they are supposed to be helping, yet often deem themselves experts in tackling a problem over people who are closest to the issue. Organizers, on the other hand, sometimes utilize bold strategies that test the limits of the law, which some lawyers are uncomfortable with. Bridging this gap and finding more ways to work together will fill needs on both ends and lead to more progress.\r\n\r\nIn 2018, the ACLU and several state affiliates, along with private counsel, partnered with <a href=\"https:\/\/fightfor15.org\/\">Fight for 15<\/a> (FF15) organizers to confront <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/womens-rights\/mcdonalds-serving-sexual-harassment\">rampant sexual harassment at McDonald\u2019s restaurants nationwide<\/a>. Senior Staff Attorney Gillian Thomas and FF15 organizer Allynn Umel explained to me that people in politically and economically vulnerable positions (such as undocumented people, teenagers, and low-wage workers) frequently avoid complaining about workplace abuse, let alone taking legal action, out of fear of retaliation. Because lawyers can be removed from their clients\u2019 everyday realities, collaborating with organizers helps the attorneys stay informed and build the trust that is essential for time-consuming and emotionally draining cases. Recognizing the risks and pressures of challenging their employer, FF15 organizers met with workers to speak about the importance of legal intervention and make sure they knew they were not alone."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"pullquote","pullquote":{"":null,"text":"Lawyers must ally with community organizers, who work on the ground with those most impacted, to make the women\u2019s movement more accessible and inclusive \u2014 an approach the ACLU Women\u2019s Rights Project strives to model.","source":"","width":"standard","alignment":"left"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":{"text":"\u201cParticularly for the most marginalized and vulnerable, it is pretty critical to have organizers familiar with what workers are putting on the line every single day as part of a larger fight entails as the workers engage in the legal process, as an organizer's main job is to help push people past their fear and into a place of power,\u201d explained Umel.\r\n\r\nThere is a marked difference between attorneys interested in supporting further organizing and attorneys looking to limit organizing to protect organizational or institutional concerns, Umel noted. The central question, she said, is \u201cAre we on the same team? Do the attorneys here fully appreciate and value the role of organizing and overall campaign and making sure the workers and community members have some greater degree of ownership of what happened beyond just trying to enforce the law?\u201d In speaking to her experience working with the ACLU, Umel emphasized that the respect for the organizers, coupled with an understanding of the support that survivors of harassment needed to come forward, was critical for the campaign and fight."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"pullquote","pullquote":{"":null,"text":"Bridging this gap and finding more ways to work together will fill needs on both ends and lead to more progress.","source":"","width":"standard","alignment":"left"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":{"text":"In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, the ACLU Women\u2019s Rights Project and ACLU of Missouri worked with <a href=\"https:\/\/kctenants.org\/\">KC Tenants<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/aclu-and-aclu-missouri-file-federal-lawsuit-protect-missouri-tenants-eviction\">to file a federal lawsuit<\/a> challenging the Jackson County Circuit Court for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/racial-justice\/the-very-prescription-is-to-stay-home-what-its-like-to-be-evicted-during-a-global-pandemic\">permitting eviction cases<\/a> despite the nationwide eviction moratorium. On navigating the relationships and tensions between organizers and lawyers, Senior Staff Attorney Sandra Park explained that KC Tenants was the client, and ultimately, they determined if and how the litigation advanced their goals.\r\n\r\n\u201cIn the early days of the pandemic, it was crucial for us to be in communication with folks on the ground, organizing, to determine what the greatest needs were and whether litigation could be used to help stop mass evictions,\u201d said Park, reflecting that she does not see it as her role to determine organizers\u2019 goals and strategies.\r\n\r\nThese are examples of integrated advocacy at its most effective. In both instances, the lawyers and organizers were able to respect each other\u2019s expertise and collaborate to advocate their causes. These frameworks provide a roadmap that must be replicated in order for the women\u2019s movement to be as inclusive and impactful as possible."}}],"featured_cases_section":{"enable_featured_cases":false,"title":"Featured Cases","description":"","featured_cases":null},"action":148398,"issues":[46811],"related_content_cases":[62684],"related_content_documents":"","related_content_publications":null,"related_affiliates":null,"content_layout":"standard","theme":"light","drupal_nid":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Women\u2019s Movement Needs Lawyers and Organizers Working Together | ACLU<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our collaboration with Fight for 15 and tenant organizers offers a window into a truly inclusive movement.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/womens-rights\/the-womens-movement-needs-lawyers-and-organizers-working-together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Women\u2019s Movement Needs Lawyers and Organizers Working Together | ACLU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our collaboration with Fight for 15 and tenant organizers offers a window into a truly inclusive movement.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/womens-rights\/the-womens-movement-needs-lawyers-and-organizers-working-together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-15T18:52:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-20T14:55:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.aclu.org\/live\/uploads\/2023\/03\/WOMENS_MOVEMENT_LAWYERS_V1-Social.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Liel Sterling\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.aclu.org\/live\/uploads\/2023\/03\/WOMENS_MOVEMENT_LAWYERS_V1-Social.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/womens-rights\/the-womens-movement-needs-lawyers-and-organizers-working-together\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/womens-rights\/the-womens-movement-needs-lawyers-and-organizers-working-together\",\"name\":\"The Women\u2019s Movement Needs Lawyers and Organizers Working Together | ACLU\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-15T18:52:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-20T14:55:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"Our collaboration with Fight for 15 and tenant organizers offers a window into a truly inclusive movement.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/womens-rights\/the-womens-movement-needs-lawyers-and-organizers-working-together\"]}],\"author\":{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#\/schema\/person\/liel-sterling\",\"name\":\"Liel Sterling\",\"jobTitle\":\"Former Paralegal, ACLU Women's Rights Project \",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/bio\/liel-sterling\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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