FBI Gender Bias Claims Finally Have Their Day
The Department of Justice has been defending gender bias claims from female agents for the last decade, and the hunt to charge Donald Trump has seemingly obfuscated progress.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has finally agreed to pay 34 women, who were wrongly dismissed from the FBI’s training academy in Quantico, Virginia, a $22 million settlement for their class-action lawsuit initially filed in 2019. The female recruits claim they were singled out in training and routinely harassed by instructors with sexually charged comments about their breast size, false allegations of infidelity and the need to take contraception “to control their moods,” in a process that ultimately led to their banishment from the academy.
The settlement, which was given preliminary approval by a federal judge on Oct 16, would rank among the biggest lawsuit awards in FBI history, and is meant to make a dent in the ongoing discrimination practices within federal agencies that have targeted women by creating a hostile workplace for decades.
The first female recruits who were accepted into FBI training were Joanne Pierce -Misko and Susan Roley-Malone. They were sworn in as FBI special agents and began their arduous training at Quantico, Virginia, after graduating from the academy in October of 1972.
This latest class action lawsuit was the culmination of years of accusations of legal claims that ultimately resulted in an investigative report from the US Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. That agency has now issued a report entitled: “Evaluation of Gender Equity in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Training Process for New Special Agents and Intelligence Analysts at the FBI Academy,” in order to help reform future gender bias practices.
The report was initiated at the request of US House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, which became aware of this lawsuit, originally filed against the FBI in 2019. The report evaluated the policies and practices, trends, and patterns for male and female trainees, as well as perceptions of gender equity at the FBI Academy.
The OIG report found substantial disproportionate aspects affecting gender within the FBI including the following topics:
Female and Male Trainees Graduated at Comparable Rates, but Female New Agent Trainees Received a Disproportionate Number of Dismissals and Negative Tactical Training Evaluations
A Substantial Number of Women Reported Inappropriate Behavior and Inconsistent Instructor Evaluations of Trainees Based on Gender
Women Have Been Substantially Underrepresented as Tactical and Defensive Tactics Instructors
This settlement follows a federal case filed in 2022, when long-term FBI attorney Marciann Grzadzinski, filed a suit alleging that she was unjustifiably demoted by James Baker, who served as General Counsel of the FBI at the time. (It’s worth noting that in addition to a pay disparity within the agency, current studies show that a female lawyer earns 81 cents for every $1 earned by a male lawyer in general.)
In her pleadings, Grzadzinski alleged that Baker was retaliatory toward women, specifically older women who did not conform to Baker's idea of how a woman should act, in violation of Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. A federal jury in the case ultimately sided with the FBI by rejecting the summary judgment claim of the plaintiff, but several high profile witnesses were called to the stand to testify about the bureau, including FBI General Counsel Jim Baker.
While testimony in that case proceeded to expose dysfunctional management styles that have been used in the past by Donald Trump in an attempt to limit the agency’s criminal investigation against him, the trial acted as a bed of hot gossip testimony where lawyers seemed more motivated to dig up dirt on the Trump administration and the FBI, rather than get to the crux of the discrimination claim.
Unlike the 2022 discrimination trial, which was harder to win and proved to be a distraction for lawyers and political pundits, this latest multi-million dollar settlement for FBI trainees in September represents a collective glimpse of the ongoing actual gender problems embedded within the agency. The resulting OIG investigation into gender discrimination in the FBI has also given elected officials more of a template for agency review that takes these issues into consideration.
One thing has become increasingly clear in the last several years — gender discrimination claims based on the FBI’s archaic behaviors and traditions have evolved and produced substantial settlements, but have been frequently sidetracked by the actions of Donald Trump, and the fallout from his last administration.
While the settlement is a substantial win for gender inequities across every profession, we would not be able to suss out ongoing agency discrimination with Donald Trump in the White House for another term. The electorate will have to be the jury in that instance when they elect Kamala Harris to stop Donald Trump from sucking out all of the oxygen in the room.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter, is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and an analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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