On 30th anniversary of VAWA, ERA awarded Dept. of Labor FARE Grant to combat harassment & gender-based violence in construction trades

September 13. 2024

For Immediate Release
Sep 13, 2024

Media Contact
Nazirah Ahmad
[email protected]

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau announced that Equal Rights Advocates is one of four nonprofits to be awarded its Fostering Access, Rights and Equity (FARE) Grant to combat workplace harassment and gender-based violence. The announcement comes one day before the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act.

The $1.4 million grant will be divided between ERA and three other organizations, with ERA’s project to focus on addressing gender-based violence and harassment in construction trades such as road work, metal work, carpentry, plumbing, and electricity. As male dominated fields, construction worksites can be particularly hostile to women workers, especially  women of color, LGBTQ people, and women with disabilities. Women currently make up only 4.2% of construction workers, with gender based harassment and violence pushing many women out of these high-paying, often union-protected jobs.

With the FARE grant, ERA and its project partner, the National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues, will serve women in the construction trades who have been impacted by gender-based violence at work. Our project will build awareness about the issue, creating and publicizing educational materials that are worker- and survivor-centered. It will also help these workers with survivor-driven strategies that reduce the risk of violence in the workplace. It will also connect  these workers to services, benefits, and needed legal assistance. The project aims to help and encourage tradeswomen to become leaders in addressing hostile work environments at their worksites.

“Ensuring women have equal opportunities and fair treatment in well-paid, union-protected jobs is a key strategy to combating poverty.” 
– Jessica Ramey Stender, Policy Director

“As we mark this week’s 30th anniversary of the historic Violence Against Women Act, Equal Rights Advocates is honored to receive FARE Grant support from the U.S. Department of Labor to prevent and combat gender-based violence and harassment in construction trades”, said Noreen Farrell, Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates. “For 50 years, ERA has been on the frontlines battling sexual harassment that deters women from high-paid work. We are energized to work alongside the National Taskforce of Tradeswomen Issues and fellow FARE grant recipients to propel progress.”

ERA is a leader in opening male-dominated fields to women, including by helping tradeswomen know their rights and empowering them to organize for increased protections and access.  The National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues, which launched in 2011 and became a project of ERA this year, works to ensure access to apprenticeships, sustainable careers, and respectful job sites for tradeswomen. The Taskforce leads policy advocacy campaigns and provides educational and advocacy opportunities for more than 400 individual members from 24 states and Washington D.C., 25 tradeswomen-serving organizations, and 6 ally organizations.

“Ensuring women have equal opportunities and fair treatment in well-paid, union-protected jobs is a key strategy to combating poverty,” said Jessica Ramey Stender, Policy Director and Deputy Legal Director at Equal Rights Advocates. “By focusing on making trades work safer and free from gender-based harassment and violence, we will ensure more women stay and thrive in these jobs, and disrupt the biggest measurable contributor to the gender wage gap: occupational segregation. We’re eager to partner with our allies in the National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues Taskforce to get this critical work underway.”

“For too long, tradeswomen have experienced hostile workplaces with malicious, biased behaviors, harassment and even violence from a portion of their male co-workers, with the institutions in charge, employers, unions and apprenticeship programs not doing enough to protect tradeswomen,” said Connie Ashbrook and Janelle DeJan, Co-Chairs of the National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues. “The FARE grant will enable the Taskforce and Equal Rights Advocates to bring tradeswomen and tradeswomen-serving organizations together to demand change, spread best practices towards respectful workplaces and support tradeswomen who have experienced gender based violence and harassment.”