Gender Violence

• America is the 10th most dangerous country in the world for women, ranking 3rd for sexual violence and 6th for non-sexual violence (source, Thompson Reuters Foundation).
  • The Centers for Disease Control estimates that nearly 1 in 2 women will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime. (source, CDC as cited in the US Conference of Mayors amicus brief)
  • Nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner. On a typical day victims will make over 20,000 calls to hotlines (source, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence).
  • Approximately three women die every day as a result of intimate partner violence. For every woman killed, nine more are critically injured. (source, Council on Foreign Relations)
  • As many as half of the homeless women in the country are fleeing domestic violence. (source, Souter dissent in Morrison as cited in the US Conference of Mayors amicus brief)
  • Victims of intimate partner violence lose an estimated total of eight million days of paid work every year (source, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence) costing the economy more than $8.3B/year, with between 21 and 60% of victims losing their jobs as a result (source, Institute for Women’s Policy Research).
  • For every 100 rapes or attempted rapes reported to police, only 19 cases lead to arrest, 5 end in a plea deal, and 1 ends in a guilty verdict through trial. (source, US Department of Justices, as cited in the ERA Coalition amicus brief)
  • 43.8% of lesbians and 61.1% of bisexual women have been subjected to intimate partner violence at some point in their lives and 33% of trans women have been subjected to bias-driven assaults. (source, multiple sources as cited in the ERA Coalition amicus brief)
  • Fifty-six percent of girls in grades seven through twelve report experiencing sexual harassment in school, and one in nine female high school students report experiencing dating violence in the past year. (source, AAUM as cited in the GenerationRatify amicus brief)
  • Seventy-five percent of transgender youth reported feeling unsafe at school and 85% of LGBTQIA+ students in grades six through twelve were verbally harassed. (source, Human Rights Watch and National Women’s Law Center as cited in the GenerationRatify amicus brief)

• Supreme Court decisions are based upon a Constitution that does not guarantee gender equality.
  • Because there is no guarantee of gender equality, gender violence cases are decided on constitutional clauses like the Due Process Clause and Commerce Clause.

“In each of these cases, the Court held that the petitioner had no legal remedy under the Constitution to address a deprivation of rights on account of sex.”

Amicus Brief filed on behalf of 108 American corporations by Paul Weiss, Virginia v Ferriero

• When our justice system is not just, we must fix the underlying foundation of the system: the Constitution. The 28th Amendment (Equal Rights) will provide a constitutional guarantee of gender equality, elevate the legal standard applied to state action, acknowledge gender equality as a guiding principle, and create a consistent federal standard.