Three Women Whistleblowers Who Fought for Equality
Today, on Women’s Equality Day, the 101st anniversary of the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment, National Whistleblower Center (NWC) is highlighting three amazing women whistleblowers who fought for equality in their workplaces.
Read the stories of Coast Guard whistleblower Lt. Cmdr. Kimberly Young-McLear, U.S. Naval Research Lab whistleblower Dr. Kiki Ikossi, and railway whistleblower Sheila White to hear about and celebrate their struggles and triumphs in the fight for equality.
Women whistleblowers on the front lines against waste, fraud, and abuse are integral to the story of whistleblowing in the United States. Throughout our history, these women whistleblowers have exposed financial crimes in the world’s largest companies, failures in U.S. counter-terrorism preparedness, scandals in the Catholic Church, water contamination in Flint, Michigan, and the list goes on. In the fight for equality in the workplace, many women have stood up to oppose gender discrimination and harassment by blowing the whistle.
NWC honors the accomplishments of these whistleblowers and puts a spotlight on their stories for Women’s Equality Day. Three whistleblowers, Kimberly Young-McLear, Kiki Ikossi, and Sheila White, embody the resolve and determination critical when standing up to inequality, discrimination, harassment, and violence in the workplace.
Kimberly Young-McLear, Coast Guard Whistleblower
While serving with the Coast Guard, Lt. Cmdr. Kimberly Young-McLear, Ph.D. exposed the Coast Guard’s gross misuse of power regarding how bullying, harassment, and discrimination allegations were handled. After making formal discrimination and harassment complaints with the Coast Guard about the harassment and hostile work environment, Young-McLear received negative evaluation reports and was subjected to additional harassment and retaliatory actions.
Young-McLear, however, was persistent. In 2018, an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General substantiated that she had been retaliated against for her whistleblowing activity. Now, as a result of her whistleblowing, investigative loopholes for these types of claims by Coast Guard service members and federally employed civilians have been closed.
Young-McLear remains active as an advocate for stronger military whistleblower protections. In order to make strides to change the culture at the Coast Guard and at the DHS, Young-McLear co-founded DHS Spectrum, an organization committed to viewing the DHS through an intersectional lens in order to identify and address issues affecting DHS employees while educating and assisting the Department with improving their policies to combat workplace violence, harassment, and other forms of exclusion that erode mission readiness.
In July 2021, Young-McLear spoke at NWC’s National Whistleblower Day celebration about her experience blowing the whistle. In her speech, she gave a call to action: “We must continue to lift ourselves up, know our worth, and be bold. We must continue to speak up against injustices and work towards restoring dignity to survivors.”
Dr. Kiki Ikossi, Naval Research Lab Whistleblower
In the early 2000s, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory electrical engineer Dr. Kiki Ikossi blew the whistle on gender discrimination in her workplace at the Research Lab. Ikossi alleged she was subjected to a hostile work environment, denied recognition at work, and passed up for advancement opportunities that went to younger, less qualified male colleagues. After filing her complaints to the Navy Research Lab HR Office, she was retaliated against and subsequently, and unfairly, terminated.
In a landmark decision, Ikossi prevailed as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld her case. The decision in her case, Ikossi v. England alongside two prior Court of Appeals decisions, produced a framework of cases that has provided federal employees with the right to join a federal Whistleblower Protection Act claim with a Title VII discrimination claim and proceed to federal court on the entire claim in federal district court if the agency fails to issue a final administrative decision within 120 days.
Ikossi paved the way for federal whistleblowers, helping to secure needed legal protections for whistleblowers facing retaliation by bravely fighting against gender discrimination.
Sheila White, Railway Industry Whistleblower
In 1997, Sheila White was the only woman working at railway giant Burlington Northern & Santa Fe’s (BNSF) Tennessee Yard as a forklift operator. There, she reported to BNSF officials that her supervisor had made inappropriate and derogatory remarks to her in front of coworkers even suggesting that women should not be working in their department. Her supervisor was then suspended and ordered to take sexual harassment training. However, White was removed from her duties operating the forklift.
In response, White filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, filing charges of gender discrimination and retaliation. In 2006, White was vindicated. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in her favor in a landmark case, Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White, that revised the standard for retaliation against sexual harassment complaints, having far-reaching impacts on U.S. labor laws.
As she joked in her 2019 National Whistleblower Day speech, White “caused the greatest train wreck in history.”
On Women’s Equality Day, NWC celebrates the powerful accomplishments of these women whistleblowers and all women whistleblowers who have stood up in the face of inequality, harassment, and gender discrimination.
To assist NWC in their fight to protect whistleblowers and strengthen whistleblower laws, please consider donating in support. To stay up to date on upcoming events, initiatives, and actions to take on behalf of whistleblowers, please join our Action Alert Network.
