WHAT:
On Tuesday, December 12, 1995, leaders of more than 70 women's and civil rights organizations will join national women's rights leaders and an array of prominent women in business, law, medicine, academia, sports, and entertainment to announce the launch of a statewide campaign to defeat the so-called "California Civil Rights Initiative" (CCRI).
WHO:
Eleanor Smeal, President, Feminist Majority
Prema Mathai-Davis, Executive Director YWCA of the USA
Lorraine Sheinberg, Peg Yorkin, Campaign Co-Chairs
Erwin Chemerinsky, USC Law ProfessorWHEN:
Tuesday, December 12, 1995
10:30 a.m.
YWCA of Greater Los Angeles
3345 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 300WHY:
A great deal of attention has been paid to the effects of the so-called 'California Civil Rights Initiative' in eliminating affirmative action programs for women and minorities. But little attention has yet focused on the potential impact on women and girls of CCRI's clause 'c' -- a specific provision in the initiative allowing "bonafide qualifications based on sex which are reasonably necessary to the normal operation in public employment, public education, or public contracting."
Clause 'c' will re-write the state's laws on sex discrimination licensing discrimination against women and girls. If passed, CCRI's clause 'c' threatens to bring back practices of the not-so-distant-past when so-called "reasonably necessary" qualifications were used to justify the exclusion of women from certain jobs like fire-fighting and policing, and to justify "boys-only" schools and sports programs.