Wood

MEMORANDUM **

Kelly Wood brought this action against her former employer, Wick Communications, alleging that her termination as the advertising director of Prime Magazine was motivated by gender discrimination, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Wick, finding that Wood failed to state a prima facie case of gender discrimination. The district court also held that in the alternative, even if Wood had stated a prima facie case, she had not raised a genuine question of material fact about whether Wick’s proffered non-discriminatory reason for her termination, a reduction-in-force through the combination of two publications’ advertising departments, was pretextual. Wood appeals the grant of summary judgment in favor of Wick, and we reverse.

We have held on many occasions that establishing a prima facie case is a “minimal” burden. See, e.g., Godwin v. Hunt Wesson, Inc., 150 F.3d 1217, 1220 (9th Cir.1998); Wallis v. J.R. Simplot Co., 26 F.3d 885, 889 (9th Cir.1994); Sischo-Nownejad v. Merced Cmty. Coll. Dist., 934 F.2d 1104 , 1111 (9th Cir.1991). Here, Wood put forth direct evidence of gender bias that more…