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).