Hawaii Schools Discriminate Against Female Athletes, Class Action Says

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A group of female students have launched a class action lawsuit against Hawaii’s Department of Education alleging public schools discriminate against them when it comes to athletic opportunities because of their gender.

The students, along with the ACLU, allege in the Hawaii DOE class action lawsuit that the education system fails to put girls and boys “on a level playing field.”

The Hawaii DOE’s treatment of female athletes is “grossly unequal” when it comes to benefits and opportunities – denying them equal facilities, maintenance, and even medical care, according to the plaintiffs.

In one instance, alleges the Hawaii DOE class action lawsuit, male athletes are given an entire stand-alone locker room, complete with showers, changing rooms, and a place to hold team meetings.

“Female athletes have nothing comparable,” states the Hawaii gender bias class action lawsuit. “As a result, female athletes must lug their athletic gear around all day. Female athletes must resort to changing in teachers’ closets, in the bathroom of the nearest Burger King, and even on the practice field, risking potential exposure to bystanders.”

“To go to the bathroom, female athletes must run back to the campus gym (which is located roughly two football fields in length away), use decrepit porta-potties (which are sometimes locked), or face having to crouch down in the bushes,” the Hawaii education class action continues.

In another instance, the Hawaii DOE prioritized upgrading a boy’s baseball field to “play off condition” before even building a girl’s locker room, alleges the Hawaii sports class action lawsuit.

The ultimate betrayal, allege the female athletes in the Hawaii DOE class action lawsuit, is knowing that their school does not value them as much as their male counterparts.

According to the class action lawsuit, the Hawaii DOE is grossly out of compliance with federal law, Title IX, and has been so for decades.

“The DOE said it was working to close those gaps,” notes the Hawaii education class action. “But what followed was four decades of delay in providing female athletes with treatment, benefits, and opportunities equal to those received by male athletes as required by Title IX.”

The plaintiffs include two 17-year-old female athletes who attend James Campbell High School, a four-year public high school located in Ewa Beach, Oahu.

The school is federally funded and must abide by Title IX standards when it comes to providing equal opportunities to male and female athletes, alleges the Hawaii education class action lawsuit.

In addition to Hawaii DOE, the Oahu Interscholastic Association (OIA) is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. OIA is run by Hawaii DOE and controls the facilities available to high school athletes.

According to the Hawaii DOE class action lawsuit, Title IX has paved the way for female high school athletes. Before the law, which was coauthored by Hawaii’s own Congresswoman, only about seven percent of high school athletes were female. That number has risen to 42.8 percent.

“But at least within the State of Hawaii, Title IX’s promise remains unfulfilled,” alleges the Hawaii gender bias class action lawsuit. “Nearly half a century after Title IX took effect, the DOE today fails to provide Campbell female student athletes (and female students at other Hawaii public schools) with athletic opportunities, treatment, and benefits equal to those provided to its male student athletes.”

The Hawaii DOE class action lawsuit seeks to represent present and future female athletes in Hawaii’s public schools.

The lead plaintiffs are represented by Mateo Caballero of the ACLU of Hawaii Foundation, Elizabeth Kristen, J. Cacilia Kim, and Kim Turner of Legal Aid at Work, and Jayma M. Meyer and Harrison J. Frahn IV of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

The Hawaii DOE Gender Bias Class Action Lawsuit is A.B., et al. v. Hawaii State Department of Education, et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-00477-LEK-RLP, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.