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CNBC: ‘Diversity is not illegal’: Women in skilled trades brace for Trump’s DEI rollbacks

March 27. 2025


Deputy Legal Director and Policy Director Jessica Ramey Stender is featured in an CNBC article about the potential threat to tradeswomen posed by federal DEI cuts.

Attorney Jessica Stender, the policy director and deputy legal director for legal nonprofit Equal Rights Advocates, pushed back against the idea that DEI policies are unlawful.

“This notion that DEI is illegal is really a false narrative, when it’s really intended to ensure underrepresented groups have the opportunities of everyone else,” she said.

Stender called harassment “the price of the paycheck” for women in trades. She told CNBC that some women “choose to put up with the harassment and discrimination” to attain the economic stability and benefits these jobs offer.

Read the article.

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