Joined by students, workers, youth and victim advocates, and their partners at Southwest PA Says No More, the Women’s Law Project is pleased to announce the launch of #MeTooPA, a new, FREE confidential service for Pennsylvania students and low-wage workers who have experienced sexual harassment or assault.
“Students and low-wage workers experience shockingly high rates of sexual harassment and assault, and the consequences can be life-changing. Far too often, these victims feel isolated, unsure of their rights, or fear they won’t be believed or helped,” said Sue Frietsche, Senior Staff Attorney at the Women’s Law Project, during a press conference at The Heinz Endowments’ Downtown offices Thursday morning. “Prompt, compassionate legal support can stop harassment, prevent it from happening again, and may provide a measure of justice for victims.”
Designed specifically to provide expert, compassionate, legal support to students, their parents, and low-wage workers facing sexual harassment, #MeTooPA services include:
- Confidential, victim-centered evaluation of your experience by an attorney
- Information and education about your rights at school or on the job
- Free legal representation in appropriate cases
- “Warm” referrals to additional resources in the community for counseling and support
Services are provided in both English and Spanish.
Although sexual harassment and assault can happen to anyone, young women, low-income women, women and girls of color, people with disabilities, and gender non-conforming people experience disproportionate rates of sexual harassment and assault.
Recognizing the lack of services for these particularly vulnerable populations in the Pittsburgh region, the Endowments provided funding for this project in 2018.
“We believe everyone deserves to be safe and respected within their school, work and home environments,” said Endowments President Grant Oliphant.
“We’re proud to support initiatives like this that are dedicated to protecting the rights and dignity of all while addressing situations that also can limit opportunities and hinder advancement. The Endowments is committed to promoting justice, equity and inclusion in our region, and #MeTooPA reflects those goals.”
Although the #MeToo movement – from which the new Women’s Law Project service derived its name — highlighted sexual harassment in the entertainment and news industries, students and low-wage workers are actually impacted most significantly.
Kristy Trautmann, Executive Director of FISA Foundation and founder of Southwest PA Says No More, noted: “Young women have told us that sexual harassment happens every day at school. It is often ignored by adults or brushed off as a minor distraction rather than recognized as a serious personal violation. Many feel like they are on their own to deal with it.”
The statistics regarding sexual harassment in schools are sobering. More than half of 7th-12th grade girls have experienced some form of sexual harassment.1 And the rates are even higher for young black girls and girls with disabilities.2,3 One in 5 women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college4 and fewer than 10% of them report and seek help.5
Low-wage workers face a similar situation. As Julie Evans, Director of Prevention at Pittsburgh Action Against Rape noted: “For workers in industries like food service, retail, and healthcare, experiences of catcalling, groping and other unwanted sexual conduct (even sexual assault) are sadly quite routine. And these workers face major obstacles to filing a formal sexual harassment charge, such as the very real fear of retaliation or losing their job.”
In fact, according to a report by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), only 6-13 percent of people ever file a formal sexual harassment charge. 6
Anna-Lena Kempen, a charging party in the Mattress Factory case, knows first-hand how much of a difference legal support can make after reporting harassment. “I reported a sexual predator to the highest internal authority I could – the director and the board – and when I realized my complaints and those of my coworkers were being dismissed, and complainants were being retaliated against, I also knew the limits of my own legal knowledge and was floundering. I called the Women’s Law Project, which referred me to a lawyer who was constantly available to answer our questions, provide legal advice, and help us feel that we were not powerless in our struggle to enact change in the organization.”
For questions, please contact Brittany Green, (412)-281-2892, bgreen@womenslawproject.org.
Learn more about #MeTooPA at MeTooPA.org
About Women’s Law Project
Trailblazing since 1974, the Women’s Law Project is the only public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to the rights of women and girls.
The Women’s Law Project is a leading voice in the fight for equal access to reproductive healthcare and abortion, improving institutional response to all forms of violence against women, challenging sex & gender discrimination, and advocating for workplace equality and economic justice. We’re proud to be a state-based organization with a significant track record of national influence, and an extensive track record of legal precedents and policy reforms that advance the rights of women and their families–particularly those with few resources and little political power.
About The Heinz Endowments
The Heinz Endowments is devoted to the mission of helping southwestern Pennsylvania prosper as a vibrant center of creativity, learning, and social, economic and environmental sustainability. Core to our work is the vision of a just community where all are included and where everyone who calls our region home has a real and meaningful opportunity to thrive.
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References:
- Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, AAUW, 2011.
- Stopping School Pushout for Girls Who Have Suffered Harassment and Sexual Violence, National Women’s Law Center, 2017
- The 2015 National School Climate Survey, GLSEN, 2016
- Krebs, C. P., Lindquist, C., Warner, T., Fisher, B., & Martin, S. (2007). The campus sexual assault (CSA) study: Final report. Retrieved from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf
- Fisher, B., Cullen, F., & Turner, M. (2000). The sexual victimization of college women (NCJ 182369). Retrieved from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf
- Select Task Force On The Study of Harassment in the Workplace, Report of Co-Chairs Chai R. Feldblum & Victoria A. Lipnic, S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), June 2016
