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.