Wow, good question! I believe women in the legal industry face similar challenges than in other sectors and are still less likely to achieve leadership positions, for a mix of factors that are well documented including by quantitative research.
Let me tell a story that illustrates some aspects of the problem.
In one of the Universities I have worked in, there was a wonderful Equality Committee. Not a voluntary or elected body. But a real service within the University, with experts in gender equality policies that were actually paid to make the Uni a more gender-equal workplace. They would organize seminars and mentoring for young women etc..
I went to one of the seminars. There I discovered that the Committee also participated in recruitment at professorial level, to make sure that gender bias would not come into the process.
Except in the Law Faculty. They would not participate in recruitment in the Law Faculty because - I was told - women already represented 48% of the professorial body in the Law Faculty, which was pretty good already and resources were limited.
I pointed out that the Law student body, including at graduate and post-graduate level, was made up of women for at least 70%, and much more in some disciplines, consistently, since at least 2 decades. How could 48% of women professors be enough? Or, in other words, how 30% of male law students became 52% of the professors? I did not get a clear answer to my objection.
Wow, good question! I believe women in the legal industry face similar challenges than in other sectors and are still less likely to achieve leadership positions, for a mix of factors that are well documented including by quantitative research.
Let me tell a story that illustrates some aspects of the problem.
In one of the Universities I have worked in, there was a wonderful Equality Committee. Not a voluntary or elected body. But a real service within the University, with experts in gender equality policies that were actually paid to make the Uni a more gender-equal workplace. They would organize seminars and mentoring for young women etc..
I went to one of the seminars. There I discovered that the Committee also participated in recruitment at professorial level, to make sure that gender bias would not come into the process.
Except in the Law Faculty. They would not participate in recruitment in the Law Faculty because - I was told - women already represented 48% of the professorial body in the Law Faculty, which was pretty good already and resources were limited.
I pointed out that the Law student body, including at graduate and post-graduate level, was made up of women for at least 70%, and much more in some disciplines, consistently, since at least 2 decades. How could 48% of women professors be enough? Or, in other words, how 30% of male law students became 52% of the professors? I did not get a clear answer to my objection.