Oh my god, this story is killing me.
There's a group of men's rights activists
suing women's organizations for meeting without men.
And it’s threatening the financial stability
of those women’s organizations.
One of those organizations was Ladies Get Paid.
Claire
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
started ladies get paid because… I was really upset that 60% of today's college graduates are women, but actually less than 22% of us are making it past middle management. And then I realize that money really is at
the end of it. And I also realized that none of my girlfriends, and I were talking about money, and we needed a place to talk. Claire hosted events for women all over the country to talk about how to negotiate salaries, and eventually close the wage gap. One member of Ladies Get Paid left an event, and successfully negotiate an $11,000 raise. Another member of Ladies Get Paid negotiated a $15,000 raise. Ladies Get Paid grow to reach over 30,000 women across the country. So you hosted an all women’s event? So all of our events were for all women, now they are not. The reason that I made our events for female identifying and non binary people only, is because the premise of everything that we talk about are basically really sensitive, vulnerable intimate issues that we experience at work as women. And it just like if we had men in the room
how could we possibly feel comfortable enough
to share these intimate details about our life.
You know?
Yeah.
Especially if you're talking about harassment,
sexual harassment assault at work.
I did not even consider it to be sexual discrimination.
Claire was sued for violating the Unruh Civil Rights Act,
which I had never heard of before.
But I've also never heard of a woman being
sued for gender discrimination against a man before.
So I reached out to Clarie's attorney, Megan Cesare Eastman
to find out what was going on.
Megan is based in California, so I called
her in the one place I knew we would not be
sued for excluding men from, the woman bathroom.
Hey Megan.
Hi.
Thanks so much for chatting with me today.
Thank you for having me.
Okay, so can you tell me a little bit about
the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
So the Unruh Civil Rights Act is one of California’s
civil right laws.
And it prohibits businesses from discriminating
in the provisions of services to
those different protected categories.
How was it used in a new way in this Ladies Get Paid case?
Ladies Get Paid, the company, is an organization
dedicated to bridging the equality gap between men and women in the workplace.
They decided to hold some meetings, they made
a decision to exclude men, to create a safe place.
There were a few men that attempted to come to these meetings,
who were part of a National Men’s Rights Organization.
But, they were denied entry,
and then subsequently sued Ladies Get Paid
for gender discrimination.
The purpose for this law, which is promoting
equality among all different types of people
is the same purpose of this organization,
so it felt really inconsistent with the law’s purpose.
And as an attorney is that something that
you've seen happen often?
These plaintiffs and this lawyer have been
involved in a number of lawsuits,
including numerous lawsuits targeting women's organizations.
But this is the first time in my career
I've seen civil rights laws apply in this way as
a sword to sort of cut down a group dedicated
to women’s equality rather than as a shield for a victim.
So I reached out to the attorneys suing Ladies Get Paid,
but unfortunately he was unavailable
for an on camera interview citing a disability.
But he did point out that he spent the last
15 years successfully suing over 300 businesses,
and organizations for discrimination against
men under the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
He successfully sued Club Med for not including
men in a ladies only discount, and won almost
a million dollars.
And he successfully sued the Oakland A's,
for not giving men a promotional floppy sun
hat on Mother's Day, and he won half a million dollars.
Ladies Get Paid settled with the men's rights
activists for an undisclosed amount.
It is very expensive to go to court,
even if you believe that you can win, in this case
if were to lose we would actually have to
pay the legal fees of the other side.
It was was fianicially responsible to settle,
as painful as that was.
Yeah.
Ladies Get Paid became ladies get sued.
The lawsuit financially crippled the organization,
until their story went viral.
Claire raised a $100,000 in three weeks to
cover her legal fees.
Clearly the case resonated with people.
I think it exemplifies how threating equality
can be to groups that have historically benefited
from inequality.
And I think it certainly highlights the importance of people
like Claire to continue do their work.
My impression and understanding is that they
do truly believe in their own mission, which
is that men are now being discriminated against
to the benefit of woman.
It’s kind of a shocking idea for me to hear.
Megan has a point.
Women are almost twice as likely as men to
say that they've experienced gender discrimination at work,
and over half of black women say
that they've experienced at least one type
of gender discrimination at work.
And how could we forget that corporate America
remains male dominated.
Of the 500 CEO’s on the S&P 500 list, only 25 are women.
25 out of 500.
That’s pretty bad, and not all men are bad.
There's definitely a role for men in this conversation.
Of course there are men who want to be allies,
but guess what those men reach out and ask
how can I be an ally.
I guess male allies don't sue organizations
fighting for gender equality, just a hunch.
When you come together with a group of women,
and you want to talk about work, and money
that's political.
We’re more powerful and radical than we
even know.
And now I've certainly woken up.
Everybody who interviews me gets angry e-mails from him.
But that's not you know, that doesn't stop
me from speaking out, and I certainly hope it
doesn't stop publications from wanting to
write about the story.
I'm really looking forward for him reaching out.
So excited.
Well did he reach out?
Not yet, but I did ask him for his advice
to young women.
And he said it was to treat everyone equally
no matter their sex, race, religion, or sexual orientation.
Okay that's time.
It's such a good story.
