Women's Bar Association of Maryland Statement on Federal Executive Orders Impacting Women - May 2025

The Women’s Bar Association of Maryland, Inc. (“WBA”) (https://wbamd.org) is an organization of women and men committed to the full and equal participation of women in the legal profession and in a just society. The WBA was founded in 1929, and its predecessor organization, the Women’s Lawyers Association, was founded in 1927 after four of its seven founding members were denied membership in the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA). Nearly 20 years later, the MSBA became the last state bar association to admit women when it finally admitted WBA member, Rose Zetzer, as its first female member in 1946. Thirty years later in 1957, the Baltimore City Bar Association voted to admit women and African-American lawyers. Historically, WBA members have campaigned for women’s rights, including the right to serve on juries, be appointed to the bench, and elected to public office. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, WBA members campaigned to improve the criminal justice system’s handling of rapes and other sex offenses. In the 1980’s, the WBA went on record as a pro-choice organization to promote the right of women to make decisions regarding their lives and their bodies. In the 1990’s, the WBA devoted much of its efforts to judicial selections and creating a more diverse judiciary, and the WBA has been instrumental in increasing the representation of women and minorities in the Maryland courts.

In keeping with our Mission Statement, the Women’s Bar Association of Maryland feels compelled to state our position on the impact on women and minorities resulting from recent Federal Executive Orders. So many of us have fought tirelessly to ensure that women and the most vulnerable of our society have an equal voice, equal rights, and equal protections. Women make up more than half the population of Maryland – 51.4%. According to the Maryland Department of Labor, more than 60% of Maryland women actively participate in the paid workforce, with women making up the vast majority of single-parent households. We cannot allow injustices such as the ones listed below (which, sadly, are just a few examples) to continue.

Limiting women’s democratic rights

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act passed House of Representatives April 10, 2025; pending Senate vote) seeks to add burdensome restrictions on voter eligibility (e.g., requiring birth certificates to match current names on IDs). This would affect women and minorities disproportionately (Americans who have changed their name, like married women and members of the trans community). In the US, 84% of women who marry men change their surnames to that of their husband, and an estimated 69 million women presently lack paperwork that reflects their current name.

Limiting women’s right to reproductive health and safety

The federal Department of Health and Human Services has removed from its website information on reproductive health. The Department of Justice has announced that it will no longer enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act except under what it deems as “severe and extraordinary circumstances” and has already dismissed three civil cases of obstruction at clinics.

Eliminating Vital Health Information

In early February, thousands of government websites providing information regarding care and support to women and families were suddenly changed or offline, including websites for federal agencies such as the Center for Disease Control, FDA, and USAID, eliminating vital information on vaccines and reproductive health.

Return to In-Person Work

Largely eliminated telework in the Federal government, disrupting the work lives of many who must balance work and family demands. Research indicates that women make up 45% of federal workers, with Black and Native women and women veteran workers especially likely to be federal employees. Research also shows that in over half of American families today, women serve as the co-breadwinner or the family’s sole breadwinner.

Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy Act

(Executive Order issued on April 23, 2025) represents the most aggressive federal effort in decades to reinterpret federal civil rights statutes, essentially rendering the 1964 Civil Rights Act ineffective. It also creates concern for the protection of women’s financial independence, as well as other potential civil rights violations.

Ending Government DEI Programs

Orders dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that served to eliminate barriers to equal opportunity for all and especially women.

Women are an integral component of our economy and the backbone of the family structure. These executive actions disproportionately impact women’s ability to participate fully in the work force and contribute to society. The WBA is deeply concerned about the negative impact of these Orders on women today and the continuing erosion of rights that thousands have fought so hard and for so long to secure. We have made remarkable progress in our path to equality for women and minorities. We must not – cannot – stay silent when this progress is threatened. Please join us in our ongoing fight for women’s equality and in meeting the challenges that lie ahead.