39: Status of Women in Law Part III

Identify the organization initiatives that need to occur before work/life balance can be obtained and equity among men and women is gained in the legal profession. Critique and discuss English’s re-imagining the future.

Blog entries need to be between 300-500 words long.

38: Status of Women in Law Part II

Select one profile from each of the following galleries “Women in the Judiciary” and “Women in the Practice of Law” that can be found at

http://library.law.columbia.edu/rise_of_women/index.html

Write about this lawyer and the significance of her contribution to the profession.

37: Status of Women in Law Part I

Read the following report, Charting Our Progress, by the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession. Write a blog that compares and contrasts English’s findings and recommendation with the report.
http://www.abanet.org/women/ChartingOurProgress.pdf

Blog entries need to be between 300-500 words long.

35: Balancing Family & Law Career Part III

In the Talk of the Nation story in course materials, the glass ceiling was explored. The question that dominated the discussion was: Can corporate America lure the women back into the workforce? What do you think?
Blog entries need to be between 300-500 words long.

35: Balancing Family & Law Career Part II

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission set out a list of recommendations for employers to consider in order to promote work-family balance. The document acknowledges that it reflects "both the increasing challenges faced by employees with caregiving responsibilities, and the low likelihood of successfully addressing such problems through mere compliance with existing law." To really assist in garnering a healthy work-life balance, businesses must do more than just the bare minimum required by legislation, including "thinking broadly about the ways in which family-friendly workplace policies can improve workers' ability to balance caregiving responsibilities with work."

A caregiver may be embodied as a parent, or one caring for an aging parent or relatives with disabilities, according to the EEOC. The trait shared by all of these caregivers is that "in addition to doing paid work, [they] are also engaged in significant caregiving outside of the workplace." An interesting and important note made in the recommendations is that women are by far the most likely to be the said caregiver in a situation. While men have taken on increased roles in parenting and caregiving, women still dominate. Simultaneously, "women's workforce participation has dramatically increased," meaning that women are taking on more responsibility than even before, and due to the recession, where mainly men's jobs were lost, their wages are more crucial than ever.

34: Balancing Family & Law Career Part I

Joan Williams is a law professor at the University of California Hastings Law School. She is the author of Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What To Do About It (Oxford University Press, 2000). Williams defines "unbending gender":

"The term "unbending gender" refers to two different trends. The first is that, to date, gender roles in this country have been unbending and unyielding; there has been a lot less change than we had hoped for 20 or 30 years ago. The second is that, to the (significant) extent that things have changed, changes have been achieved not by moving towards androgyny, but by widening out the range of socially acceptable masculinities and femininities-preserving "la difference" between men and women."

Williams, an expert in work-family balance issues, spoke on the "Working Moms" panel, and her main contention was that this work-family conflict is evident at all socioeconomic levels. Williams asserted that women in the lowest income category have the most difficult of times in balancing work and family, since their jobs are the least flexible with non-standard hours, unstable child care and often sick children. Next on the ladder is the group Williams calls the Professional Managerial class. This group has husbands working long hours, which force the mothers to bring up the children and leave their jobs. These women are likely to be working part-time jobs, and be the primary caretakers for their children, and they are generally very conflicted when it comes to their family and work. The Missing Middle are the group that have pink and blue collar jobs, with little flexibility. Generally these people use the childcare tactic of "tag-teaming," where one will work one shift while the other takes the kids, then they switch. This group has a large divorce rate largely because the couples never see each other.

33: Advancinc in the Law Part III

The advancement of women in the legal profession is undeniable. Two women currently sit on the Supreme Court. According to a study done by the National Association of Women Lawyers, women are graduating from law schools and starting careers at about the same rate as men. Additionally, a greater rate of female law school grads are promoted to the role of equity partner.

The issues come in the lack of women in leadership positions at their firms. According to the NAWL, there wer less than 16% of comen who hold the position of equity partner, and "only about 6% of law firms report that they have a woman in the highest leadership position of managing partner." Minority women still lag behind in advancement. NAWL found that there is a "greater difficulty that women of color face in moving up the law firm ranks, compared to white lawyers or male lawyers of color."

Despite the greater rate of being promoted to higher positions, like equity partner, women are promoted to the rank of equity partner at only about half the rate as men, according to the NAWL report. The ultimate kicker is an age-old problem: men still make more money than women do, in every level of law.

32: Advancing in the Law Part II

Parenthood when attached to women is an expected outcome for normal females. Women are intended to end up leaving work, at least for some period of time, and then her choices from then on determine how she's perceived in her community and in the workplace. If she goes back to work, she may want to downplay her work to appear a better mother in the workplace. On this same note, she could also choose to downplay her motherhood in order to appear stable in the workplace. One woman in Holly English's Gender on Trial attempted the latter: "'I sort of didn't tell anyone [at the law firm] until it was obvious that I was pregnant, which gave both the impression that I wasn't that excited and the impression that I was very torn about the consequences" (232). English found that, "This 'in the closet' approach... recognizes a stark fact: A woman's career stock plummets as her maternal stock skyrockets. Society applauds one moment and punishes int eh next, bringing the full force of tenacious stereotypes to bear on mothers in the workplace" (233). If a woman does not return to work, then she fulfills her stereotype as a woman in a law firm: a temporary, somewhat inconsequential occurrence.

Parenthood when attached to men is absolutely different. English explains, "The role of fatherhood has always meshed neatly with the image of the driven career man" (238). While women lose credibility as a worker upon having children, a man becoming a father adds more legitimacy to his career and generally does not affect his work habits. "If men are transformed when they become fathers, it is because they now carry the breadwinner mantle and are assumed to be more serious and committed to their work" (238). Women are expected to rely more on their husbands upon having children, and this makes working fathers stronger.

31: Advancing in the Law Part I

The legal profession is one of the most demanding. In Holly English's Gender on Trial she found that, "Basic attitudes about dedication to the profession stand in teh way of a lawyer of either gender adopting alternative schedules or deviating from accepted work norms for any reason" (221). Women often find themselves in the position of wanting to have it all: both the stellar career and the satisfying home life.

Solutions that have been proposed to assist in achieving such a balance include the following: downplaying one's motherhood or one's career, switching off parenting roles with a partner, taking on a part-time schedule, seeking a firm where women hold high-ranking positions, taking time off and returning when one chooses, even paying for someone to take care of all the day-to-day minutia like dry cleaning. On the extreme ends, women choose to not have families or not to have careers. Downplaying important things in one's life can sometimes come off as deceptive or as if one of the priorities does not matter to an individual. Taking a part-time schedule has the result of seeming unlike a lawyer. However, women who do not have families also encounter issues, and can be perceived as abnormal women. The problem with finding a firm where women hold high-ranking positions is that women in these roles are rare, and just because they are high-ranking does not mean it is something that everyone can achieve. One woman in English's book decided that she would have her child and return one year after he started formal schooling. The problem with this is that so much time out of the loop can make it difficult to rejoin the work force. The option of having a full-time nanny who cares for children when a mother can't and deal with all of the cleaning, shopping and shuffling so that a woman can spend quality time with her family seems the best option. The sole issue here is in its perception: she can be seen as not having time to enjoy anything in her life, although it's quite the opposite.

30: Proving Yourself in a Man's World Part III

Write a 700 - 1,000 word blog about leadership styles. This blog should draw on the information provided in the two videos. Address the following questions:

1) How do conventional views about leadership styles disadvantage women and advantage men?
2)How gender expectations frame leadership behavior for men and women?
3) How do these expectations relate to stereotypes?
4) What are positive and negative outcomes of female and male leadership qualities?
5) Discuss which leadership style you prefer and explain why?

29: Proving Yourself in a Man's World Part II

In an American Bar Association report, it was found that forty-nine percent of the minority woman lawyers sampled said they'd been subjected to demeaning comments or other types of harassment in the workplace. Minority women have even less of a likelihood than white women to find mentors, work as an authority figure, and move upward within a firm. According to an NPR piece, "Why So Few Minority Women Stay at Law Firms," many of the women who took part in the ABA study described stories about blatant discrimination that eventually led them to leaving their firms. The study also revealed that, in the case of minority woman laywers, exclusion, neglect and overt harassment are not uncommon in the workplace. Holly English's "Gender on Trial" barely touches on race, and viewed it as an additional major factor within law firms. "... Although there are quotations from various interviewees from minority and ethnic groups, and some relevant data are included, they are intended merely to add some illustrative examples of issues; this book does not pretend to fully analyze the added difficulties imposed by race in addition to gender" (English 14).

A discrepancy between the ABA's findings and those of English involves the work of minority male and female workers. While the ABA found that minority males had reported less instances of being passed over for a desirable assignment, being excluded from networking opportunities and receiving an unfair performance evaluation than minority females. English found the converse. Describing a "frequent syndrome" of white males who preferred supervising black females, English evidenced that black males got the shorter end of the still short stick. One man explained: "White male partners give black females better work assignments, they will be more willing to take them under their wings, in a protective capacity--to feel that they're doing something good, an honorable chore, like they should get some medal for doing this thing" (148). English does go on to concede, agreeing with part of the ABA report, that "despite this perception, black women and other minority women fare worse than their male counterparts in the workplace" (148).

28: Proving Yourself in a Man's World Part I

Jeff Rosen, of the New Republic, wrote an article about Sonia Sotomayor who, at the time, was in the running to become a Supreme Court Justice. In this piece, Rosen portrayed Sotomayor as unitelligent, negatively aggressive, and put immense focus on her temperament in court. What Rosen failed to point out in his poorly-evidenced argument were any of Sotomayor's major credits. According to The White House's background of the judge, Sotomayor graduated as valedictorian of her high school class, summa cum laude at Princeton, and was a co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. At Yale Law School, Sotomayor served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and as managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order. To attempt to portray this obviously qualified woman as incompetent or inexperienced seems laughable.

What's disturbing about Rosen's piece, still, is how he characterizes Sotomayor's aggressiveness, tendency to ask probing, tough questions and pension for dedication as bad traits. American University law professor Darren Hutchinson critiqued the article, noting the apparent sexism:

"In Scalia, toughness is positive; in Sotomayor, it is nonjudicial. If Scalia asks irrelevant questions, he is just being a dutiful 'law professor' trying to hold the attention of his class. If Sotomayor does the same thing, she is just interested in hearing herself talk. When Scalia duels harshly with litigants, the 'spectators' watch in amazement. If Sotomayor asks tough questions, she is seen as difficult, temperamental, and excitable. The disparate treatment is too dense to deny."

Men are praised for being tough, while women are seen as domineering.

27: Law as a Gendered Organization Part III

The competency gap that remains between men and women lawyers is largely due to the hierarchical nature of a law firm. At the top of the food chain is a boys' club of sorts that allows its members to be in the know about their firm's innerworkings. Holly English explains how the gap is perpetuated within the workplace: "Not all women are great, just as all men are not great. But each time a woman is incompetent, or gets pregnant and leaves, the episode is overblown, and all women pay for it, because each individual woman still stands as a symbol for all women" (111). English hammers home the point that often the competence gap lives on through the disconnect between women and men officemates when in an informal situation.

As far as the strategies that some male lawyers engage in to maintain this gap, one woman in English's study explained: "It's as simple as the discussion about golf--golf being the metaphor for what men do and women don't do in my generation" (110). In attempts to win cases against female lawyers, some male lawyers attempt to play into the idea of the competence gap by blatantly disrespecting their female opponent.

26: Law as a Gendered Organization Part II

A gendered organization can be defined as an institution in which one's gender is a part of one's role in the institution and the institution works to perpetuate the notions about one's gender through its structure and practices. This means that in, for example, a law firm, men are automatically expected to have more responsibilities, make more money and do tougher jobs, and therefore they receive all of the above. On the flip side, women are expected to vacate positions quickly, be less assertive, have less responsibility and generally answer to and rely on men, and the structure and practices of the firm, generally, assure that these expectations are met repeatedly. It is also reflected in the long hours required of lawyers. Men, who typically are not the primary caretaker for children and a spouse, are simply normal for working excessive hours. While women who face the same time demands are unable to have the home life society dictates that they should maintain.

Male lawyers play the role of backer to women lawyers. This means that, when in a bind or in need of support, a woman turns to a male counterpart to validate her stance or assist in some capacity. In Holly English's "Gender on Trial," she found repeated instances of women needing men in their office to back them up. This shows that obviously a law firm is a gendered organization because women are consistently assigned lesser value than men. A few examples that English expounds upon include one woman's need for assistance in dealing with a blatantly disrespectful man: "I had one of the guys deal with him, to take a deposition, because it was so important to our case" (87). The man who was rude to her, an opposing attorney, made no snide remarks when a man was in her place. "With my male colleague in the deposition, the hostile guy was really mild. If there's male supervision he doesn't do it" (87).

Another example English provides revolves around a woman and her male colleague, who is well known and favored by clients. After both he and she meet with a client to explain that she will take on the case, she references him as a source of power. This female fifteen-year litigator said that once she has an established client "and when I start giving advice to them that I know will not be well-received, instead of waiting for them to say, 'What does John think?' I preface it with 'John and I talked about this.' It's both a gender thing and a superior/inferior thing" (87).

These two examples illustrate the range of male backing in the law world. The male backing can be anything from a verbal reference to a male authority, to a male authority physically stepping into a situation and handling it. From either end of the spectrum, men are the ones in control in this environment, and the environment itself perpetuates the status quo.

25: Law as a Gendered Organization Part I

Distinct pros and cons accompany a woman's choice of whether to use sexualized behavior in the workplace, or not. On the pro side, sexualized behavior, when wielded properly, is an advantage that women have over men and should be deployed to gain whatever positive outcomes that it can. In Holly English's Gender on Trial, English explains that a woman can use her looks or charms, not necessarily in place to do anything but project confidence and professionalism, to flatter a male in order to receive a favorable outcome. One woman with whom English spoke said, "I just think that women have tools that they can use," adding, "We should not be deprived of using those tools, especially if those tools include the ability to develop collaboration" (43).

The con side contends that using one's sexuality as a means of getting ahead demeans any professionalism that one may possess or assert. Stooping to utilize sexuality as a weapon diminishes credibility because being a good flirt is not equitable to being a good lawyer, being intelligent or astute. It runs the risk of coming off as deceptive, conniving, and has the potential to severely alienate a woman from her co-workers.

24: Gender Expectations and Stereotypes Part III

Women law student organizations tend to have similar aims. Some of the chief issues that pop up on the web sites of these organizations is the goal of connecting women with firms for potential job placement, ensuring success in the classroom, mentorship via the organization, as well as generally advocating women's rights and women's causes. Yale Law School's organization Yale Law Women counts is mission as the promotion of "the interests of women within the law school and beyond." That organization intends on carrying out that mission by encouraging

"Debate and discussion of issues pertaining to women and gender broadly defined; promotes speech and action by YLW members on issues of import to women; devotes resources to student support and professional development; recognizes and fosters outstanding achievement; and advocates in service of women's interests in society."

Meanwhile, the University of California: Berkeley's group Boalt Hall Women's Association offers a speaker series that brings women leaders to the organization to hold lunchtime and evening talks on topics ranging from legal career paths to the balance of work and life. Communication seems to be the aim of this organization, which also sets up advice sessions bringing together women at different class levels, and informal mentorships between women at different class levels.

Harvard Law School's Women's Law Association seems vested in the entire career of its members, providing first year guidance through career development. They also appear to be the most open of these three organizations, and note that all law students are encouraged to participate in their activities. This leads one to believe that this organization may be the most forward-thinking of the trio in that they are not segregating themselves from their male counterparts, but attempting to include them in the discussion and increasing movement of women into the world of law.

23: Gender Expectations and Stereotypes Part II

Women in politics or the legal field come under more scrutiny than men when it comes to their wardrobe because there is no set way for women to dress in these professions. The topic of the NPR piece "The Fashion Laws of Politics: Obama-Style," the focus of the piece is on First Lady Michelle Obama. Obama has shaken up the norm of boring black, navy or gray suits with a sort of rejection of femininity, in favor of embracing femininity, color and fun fashion. Using clothes, mostly dresses, that highlight her curves instead of relying on boxy, masculine pieces allows her to be perceived as both serious and someone who is not afraid of herself, and portraying herself with confidence and appropriateness. While she has encountered naysayers who think that her style choices are inappropriate or not serious enough, there are also those who seem more enraptured in her fashion choices than her actual duties.

Particularly in the political world, women come under questioning regarding how much money they spend on their clothing. An interesting case is that of Michelle Obama, seen as a lover of American fashion and economic supporter of the fashion industry, versus former Governor Sarah Palin, who was hung out to dry for her clothing budget. Reportedly, the Republican National Convention spent $150,000 on Palin's wardrobe for her vice presidential campaign. This, compiled with her touted image as a "hot mom," only served to hurt her image, and portray her as increasingly vain and decreasingly of substance.

The NPR piece "What Is She Wearing? Fashion Laws of Politics" discusses the evolution of women's fashion in the political arena, and provide advice to women at work. "Women are viewed in a very different way, with regard to their dress, than men are." former lawmaker Marjorie Margolies said. Men basically get a pass in fashion, and women are faced with more of a burden of looking responsible, but also being current and simultaneously classic. While it is acknowledged that the harsher view on women could be categorized as sexist, it is essentially written off as the way it is because women simply have more fashion options than men do. "Most people remember what you wear and your tone, over what you say," Margolies said, adding that women need to keep their dress and tone more neutral, and flawless so that the focus is on their message as opposed to the accoutrement.

22: Gender, Expectations and Stereotypes Part I

On her path to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor faced the application of gender expectations and stereotypes to her. Both her gender and her race were used to evaluate her qualifications to serve as a justice, and the media played a major role in publicizing that evaluation process. It is made obvious in a video from ColorLines.com that if the same analysis of Sotomayor, and things that she had said, were applied to men who dominate the roles of justices on the Supreme Court, then the analysis would be fair. However, when these tactics are only applied to a woman who also happens to be a Latina, the video's host proclaims that the practice is institutionalized racism. She fails to mention that the act is also institutionalized sexism. Both justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia have made public gaffes that were not used against them in their process of becoming justices, and therefore the Sotomayor's treatment was both racist and sexist.

Sotomayor came under intense scrutiny for referring to herself as a wise Latina, who might be more capable of making better decisions than the average white man sitting on the bench. According to a New York Magazine article titled "Precedents: Sotomayor's Original Intent," she was called "racist" by Glenn Beck, "reverse racist by Rush Limbaugh, and a member of the "Latino KKK" by Tom Tancredo, all, it should be noted, who are white men. Justice Sotomayor was also called a judicial activist who was not part of the mainstream. This is true, when the mainstream refers to a body of balding, rich white men, who were born into privilege. Sotomayor grew up in the projects, with Puerto Rican parents and only her education to propel her forward.