May 19, 2026 will go down in history as the day systemic gender discrimination in family courts was officially recognized as the reason women are losing custody of their children in droves.
Sarah Howland, Esq. filed our Discrimination against Women in New York Custody Cases lawsuit in the Southern District of New York federal court: Case #1:26-cv-04188.
STATEMENT BY SARAH HOWLAND, ESQ.
I filed a lawsuit today on behalf of The Women’s Coalition and 41 similarly-situated female plaintiffs who have been discriminated against in NY family and matrimonial courts.
It is a federal lawsuit filed in the southern district of NY but it includes Plaintiffs from all parts of NY state.
The goal of the lawsuit is to legally establish that women have been and are being systemically discriminated against in child custody cases. We are requesting a jury trial and seek declaratory and injunctive relief.
For decades, a false narrative has been spun that women are at an advantage in custody cases, but in reality, the stark opposite is true. Women are overwhelmingly disadvantaged in family court. And the empirical data support this, and verify women’s independent accounts.
Our request is simple: We want a declaration that sex discrimination is occurring and an end to it.
We are also asking that women with minor children have a right to a de novo case, in which they will not experience discrimination.
The defendants are the State of NY, the Governor, the NY state unified court system, and the relevant supervising judges.
We are not suing individual judges because this is not about any particular judge who has engaged in discriminatory conduct against the Plaintiffs. It’s about the system.
Our Complaint claims that women’s constitutional right as a class (sex) to equal protection of the laws has been violated. This sex discrimination manifests as violations of procedural and substantive due process, such as a pattern of biased judicial conduct and treatment of women litigants.
The Constitution of the State of New York guarantees equal protection under the law, and that is all we are asking for.
It has been a pleasure and an honor working with Cindy Dumas of the Women’s Coalition in the writing and preparation of this lawsuit. I am proud to be part of this historic moment, fighting with and for women in this important effort.
Source: Filed! Discrimination against Women in NY Custody Cases Lawsuit