Blog #39

In order to obtain a successful/work balance particularly for professional women, there is no question that we need a change in policies beginning with reshaping the structured organizations as the rules and standard norms have been set by men. Now with women being almost have of the entire workforce it is more imperative that policies reflect their needs and that they too be taken into consideration. When the ‘ideal worker norm’ was created, women stayed home and they cared for children but with in an increasing demand for a double income or simply the desire to be independent it has become challenging for women to remain in the workforce and make progress professionally and monetarily as the structure of the organization do not permit it. Repeatedly, we have seen in the course material, our interviews, the videos and in English’s book that women are forced to sacrifice prestige, income, reputation, credibility, and roles of leadership because they choose to also be mothers and raise children. In order to envision, English’s reimaging of the future, it will be necessary to accommodate women’s needs and those of their multiple roles. Wouldn’t you agree that it is reasonable? The most ideal setting would be an organization that offered child care onsite to allow women to visit with their children and nurse them if necessary. Having available childcare as a bonus will not only boost morale in the organization but it will take away from the stress of looking for an adequate provider as moms are more likely to be involved in making this arrangement. Another option that should be offered to women and caregivers is flexibility with the work schedule as it can be challenging to find a balance between both without it. Most importantly, we need to promote for more family friendly policies overall as that will create awareness and the due respect that the responsibilities of women deserve otherwise housework and child raising will continue to be regarded as women’s work that is expected but simply not applauded or commended enough. Only we women with children understand that it really takes much work, effort and competence to be able to manage our multiple roles and to do so effectively. We women are wonderful, there’s no doubt about it!

Blog #38

Justice O’Connor was the first woman to be sworn into the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981. It’s only been 29 years since she broke the gender barrier in such a prestigious organization. She graduated Magna Cum Lade from Stanford University with a degree in Economics and then went on to law school there as well. Interestingly, when I googled her biography and read it, it also included that during the time that she entered the workforce as an attorney, it was indeed difficult for women lawyers to find jobs. This exemplifies that regardless of her stellar academic resume, what held her back was her gender. In addition, her biography also describes her having children and afterwards ‘going back to work part-time’ thus making indicative that even Justice O’Connor was required to make some professional sacrifices to care for her children early in her career. I was impressed to have learned that only five years later, she was appointed to the State Senate but then again, her youngest child would have been kindergarten age and that’s when children spend less time in the home thus permitting a working mother to return to work full-time. Fortunately, for Justice O’Connor, President Reagan had promised to include women in positions of power and authority and thus granted her the appointment as a Justice during his presidency.
Justice O’Connor gained a reputation of being tough and conservative except when it came to women and children rights. She has been named one of the most influential women in America and as a result has had schools renamed after her including the Arizona State University College of Law and the local federal courthouse has also been named after her. She is known for being quoted as saying, “The power I exert on the court depend on the power of my arguments, not on my gender” and “The more education a woman has, the wider the gap between men’s and women’s earnings for the same work.” It is obviously clear that she was aware of the issues facing women in the profession that still need to be addressed.

Blog #37

The American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession reportedly has found that women have made progress in terms of overcoming some discriminatory challenges in the work place however; some existing barriers still remain due to a lack of the promotion of work and home balance. Although the representation of women in law school, in private firm jobs and in major corporations is encouraging, women are still experiencing challenges taking their education to take on roles of leadership. And it’s not their lack of academic accomplishment that is holding them back, it is their gender and the roles associated with it. As a result, there is still an existing underrepresentation of women in major law firms, Fortune 500 companies, and the federal judiciary where pay tends to be higher than in the local government sector. I work at the federal court and only three women hold the prestigious position of a district judge (appointed by the president). More interestingly, a woman in the Arizona district is yet to be named chief judge. Another aspect of interest is that out of the three women I am only aware of one that has children thus reinforcing the notion that if women want to get ahead in the professional world, they need to overlook their desire to be mothers as that role can potentially be a burden to career advancement.
I found that the report also states that women lawyers report being viewed as overly aggressive or uncomfortably forthright and based on Holly English’s accounts, this is due in part because a woman attorney is stepping outside of her gender role (as perceived) and attempting to do a man’s job. For the past president of the California bar to have testified and said on the record as recent as 2003 that women were “too emotional or too aggressive” puts into perspective how gendered the employment structure really is. It also identifies how much work is yet to be done so that the male gaze can cease to focus on the qualities that actually make us special.

Blog #36

I am optimistic than women can break through the glass ceiling however I realize that it will take some time. I agree that women have made significant strides academically but in order to achieve equality in the workplace and be able to complete for higher wages there will need to be more women in positions of leadership. With that said, I think colleges need to improve their efforts in focusing on the challenges that women face and prepare female students to overcome those barriers. Although women continue to excel academically and prove that they are equally as competent as their male counterparts, unless this can translate into opportunities in the work place, we will not be able to get very far. In order to be able to enter the workplace with a stellar resume and climb up the corporate latter, it is necessary that the organizations have flexible and family friendly policies so that opportunities for women do not escape them otherwise it’ll continue to be a resemblance of the race between the turtle and the hare. While the turtle eventually reached the finish line, it required more time and effort to get there as the odds were against the turtle. Right now, policies in male dominated fields are set in a manner that they limit opportunity to women. One could argue that those rules are in fact discriminatory because it is clear that working women with familial obligations face greater challenges and if those responsibilities outside of the job are not considered to be legitimate then policies will never change. I think that we need to first recognize that housework, care giving responsibilities, raising children and everything else we women do are challenging tasks. Furthermore, if we work in addition to what we do at home, we should be commended but this rarely occurs. If we defined women’s work as what it is: hard work then I think policies in corporate America are more likely to change and become flexible in order to welcome more women into professions that men have long dominated.

Blog #35

It is impressive that the federal government is recognizing that it is in the best interest of both employers and employees to implement more family friendly and care giving policies as it is evident that individuals with additional responsibilities of a high degree outside of the workplace experience greater challenges and difficulty finding a balance between the two. I agree that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is recognizing that employers need to do more than the legal minimum to ensure that organizations are able to retain competent staff are juggling multiple responsibilities. For some of us that are fortunate enough to still have our parents, we are conscious that one day our parents will require our help as we have required theirs and I think it is our obligation as children to respond to them in same manner. And for the government to make such progress gives me hope that I will be able to care for my parents as they age without having to compromise my career. I would definitely be willing to make a professional sacrifice in order to care for my children and parents as that would be the right thing to do and I would not have it any other way.
I also appreciate that the EEOC recognizes that the care giving work is disproportionately carried out by women as a result it is clearly evident that women are more likely to be in need of greater support and flexibility in the workplace in terms of familial responsibilities. It is also equally important to acknowledge that women are disproportionately paid less than their male counterparts and that has proven to be a contributing factor to the risk of poverty particularly in today’s economy. Most of the job layoffs have occurred in the construction and financial fields were men are dominant thus leaving the woman of the house responsible as the primary wage earner. Because women make less than men in the same positions, they are put at risk for not being able to adequately provide for their family while their male counterpart is able to do so and this is absolutely unfair!

Blog #34

Clearly, professional women make sacrifices everyday for the sake of their family and children. It is clear that it is necessary for organizations to offer flexible work schedules and other alternatives to enable women to be both successful at home and in the workplace. More importantly however, it is necessary for women to be given the credibility that they deserve. It is interesting that Joan Williams, author of Unbending Gender describes her work experience with a gap as a result of having a child. She specialized in local government law until her child was born which is indicative that women are forced to make decisions that affect them both at home and at work with precision to ensure that they can balance the two. How many times have you heard of a man having changed positions, interests or work schedules as a result of having children? The only man that comes to my mind that had to think about a child first was the Hewlett Packard executive who essentially was forced to consider the child as a result of his wife’s death. Unfortunately, for most of us working women and mothers, we continue to be taken for granted and as explained by Williams it is because the work we do at home is not considered work and for homemakers in particular, they are viewed as simply housewives and we undermine their responsibilities. Williams further states that working mothers also face the challenge of being on the “mommy track” and she is referring to being on track to less pay, less benefits, compromised advancement and unfortunately on track to possibly leaving the workforce because of the increased difficulty to balance home and work life particularly when children are involved.
In terms of feminism, it has become difficult for women to call themselves feminists as the discourse associated with a feminist is almost always strict equality between men and women. However, as long as men do not have to literally bare children, I don’t think that it is possible to achieve equality. As a result, it is necessary to be more flexible towards working mothers as they have the responsibility to be more often times than not, the primary caregivers. I think more women would be inclined to form an alliance as feminists if the discourse was more family oriented because like I mentioned previously, total equality is not possible. This is not to say that women are less as a matter of fact, we often do more than men. We work equally as hard except we work a double shift, one in the office and another at home. The problem is that one is considered legitimate and the other is simply overlooked as “eh housework.”
It is devastating that the ‘ideal worker norm’ has essentially damaged the credibility of working women because realistically children have mishaps, they become ill, they have to visit the doctor or simply put-they are little human beings that are dependent on their adult care givers (moms). An ideal worker image is that of an employee that is willing to work 40 hours every week and to stay for overtime if necessary. Again, it is difficult for mothers to be considered ‘ideal workers’ because of their inability to commit to unfriendly and masculine policies. All of this combined, leaves us hardworking and deserving, admirable and commendable women a step behind men all the time. I have to admit however that I am quite fortunate in many ways as I have a very supportive spouse in which we share the work and we both respect that we have responsibility both at home and we help each other out as we view our marriage as teamwork.

Blog #33

The two women lawyers from New York set an excellent example that women can be successful and run and own their own practice so that they have the control to create and set their own schedule-something that is unlikely in the big law firms. Although they admit that they have taken a significant pay cut (it seems to be a trend for women when seeking flexibility) to them, the flexibility and independence is priceless. By having created their very own law firm run by women is a figurative form of breaking the glass ceiling because as they indicated, their colleagues thought they were crazy. I think that more women will be inclined and encouraged to own and operate their own firms and thus set a pathway for successful and flexible opportunities for other women. Since the 1980’s more and more women are entering the workplace and slowly closing in on the gender gap with 47% percent of the workforce consisting of women. However, sadly women still hold less positions of power and they make less than their male counterparts. The reasons for women staying behind are echoed throughout the readings and videos: women gravitate to employment that is less risky and more flexible and they make less because they take more time off than men particularly for child bearing. It seems to me that it is discriminatory as the work that women do at home which is often a second shift goes unpaid!
Furthermore, women like Hilary Clinton, Sara Palin and Michelle Obama have made it clear it is okay for women to step out of their expected gender role and be successful. As seen previously in the videos, the country has come to terms that it is possible that a woman president will be elected soon. Michelle Obama for example, has been repeatedly criticized for her style and her choice of wardrobe and what is important to highlight is that she is not backing down nor is she allowing expectations that were set for her decades if not centuries ago to run her life and by having her set her foot down, she is in essence giving the power back to women and for that she should be commended!

Blog #32

Parental roles for women are very distinct than those of men and it is in part due to stereotypical and gender specific expectations set forth by our society. When parenthood is associated with women, the picture is of a more demanding obligation at home that could pose a threat to her professional career. As described in one of the videos, women who are mothers are perceived to be less competent, committed and therefore they are not taken seriously or are not considered for positions of leadership because of her guaranteed absences as a mother during the birth of a child. If we think of who stays home when the children are sick, who accompanies the children to the doctor, who stays up late at night and most importantly who the children seek when they are feeling blue, it is almost always mom so there is a degree of truth to that expectation. Nevertheless, the obligations of a mother should be sufficient to give her greater credibility as she has proved that she can handle her responsibilities at home in addition to managing a career. Men are perceived to be the breadwinners, the protectors and decision makers. As a result of their expected responsibilities we further do not expect that they take on the woman’s roles nor do we expect them to take on any additional roles than to work and bring home the bacon. Because of these preset expectations, women believe that they must meet their obligations as mothers and still excel in the profession but because there is not sufficient flexibility in the workplace to offer them the opportunity to reach their potential, women opt for positions that offer greater flexibility and predictability. Unfortunately, those positions are also accompanied by a lesser salary than are positions in private practice or positions of leadership.
What is even more unfortunate is that when a working mother does excel as an attorney and makes it to the top, we question her and we question if she actually dared to neglect her parental responsibilities to get to the top. She is viewed as a suspect parent because as a society, we doubt that women are capable of excelling in both areas. Women are obviously still lagging in being given the appropriate level of capability and I personally believe we have the men to blame because they are the ones who set the standard and that obviously needs to change.

Blog #31

The problems facing professional women are the attempt to balance their profession, the home, and their children. The legal profession is very demanding particularly in private practice often requiring employees and partners to work hours in excess of forty per week thus making it difficult for working mothers to commit to those type f positions. As a result of having fewer women willing to sacrifice valuable time with their children, there are more men in those demanding positions. Women could however have more opportunity to work in the legal profession with ample possibilities for promotion and a higher salary. Some of the proposed solutions include: flexible work schedules, reduced hours, telecommuting, job shares and child care facilities within the organization. However, the problem with implanting said propositions involves opposition from the organization as it has been structured and its policies developed from a male perspective and as we well know, men are not expected to be willing to make professional sacrifices for their families and as a result their policies lack any flexibility. In addition, women who have the fortune of working reduced hours or another form of flexible schedule are not considered to be “real lawyers” as they lack the commitment and the willingness to put their job first. Other lawyers in the firm may resent those with flexible schedules due to familial obligations and that may further cause conflict in the workplace and therefore, law firms are less willing to offer flexibility that they might find themselves forced to offer to everyone else. Because our society expects that women exercise their inherited roles as mothers and wives, anything different or outside that scope is considered a choice. Furthermore, if we put forth more effort into building more family friendly organizations and structures, I think slowly we could accomplish change and policies that permit women to work and take care of their families might actually become a reality but it is absolutely necessary to promote a family friendly discourse.

Blog #30

Conventionally and structurally, men are perceived to be as natural leaders therefore, when a man is running for office or for a position of leadership we do not question his capabilities or competence to take on said responsibility whereas if a woman finds herself in the same position, there is a degree of critique, questioning and doubt. It was mind boggling to have learned how long it has taken for women to gain legitimacy and credibility. And for only half of the country to think that the U.S. is ready for a woman president clearly states that as a society we still continue to embed our trust in men because for centuries they have been the leaders. Although women have made significant strides academically as exemplified by the panelists they have been offered less than equal opportunity in the workplace to make progress. Dr. Rhodie listed the following statistics: women are a majority in the electorate but only hold 15% of congressional seats, half of college graduates but less than a quarter of professors, a third of MBA holders but less than two percent of CEOs in Fortune 500 companies more than half of law school entrants but less than five percent of partners in law firms, deans or judges. In addition, judging by the gendered jokes that are written, it is even more evident that society in general particularly in areas where men dominate, no one takes notice that women are excluded.
Men are expected to do what it takes to get things done while they are in positions of leadership whereas women who decide to take similar roles or exercise behavior that exemplifies leadership, they are deemed to be mean and nasty, deceiving, conniving, manipulative or if they opt out of making decisions, they are considered to be unwilling or unable, emotional whereas men naturally are expected to exhibit dominance and authority again without question.
The stereotypes associated with men are quite different than those associated with women. Again men are expected to be committed to their work, available, willing, dominant and authoritative. A woman unfortunately is held to a different and higher standard as a woman with children is perceived to be less committed, less able and less competent. The joke that she speaks about a father having to pick up his child is obviously one that is out of the norm and that is not expected as the comments that father received were, “that’s a new kind of father” meaning that it is not the role of dads to pick up their children. I ask, why not?! Personally, I believe both mom and dad should be equally as responsible because not only are more parents working in the 21st century but it is almost necessary to be able to provide for the family. I understand that women still continue to be Wonder Women because I agree that women will be unable to run the world unless the men are willing to run the washer and dryer.
I further agree that the workplace is failing women more than women are failing their work place because corporate America has not yet been willing to offer flexible and realistic schedules that working women need so that they can continue to work, be a parent and a homemaker as it does not appear that the stereotype and expectation is going away anytime soon.
Fortunately, women who have had the opportunity to take on responsibilities of leadership are making good decisions from a different perspective (a woman’s) and therefore making a different impact than those of her male counterpart and by doing so, she is making the workplace more family friendly and permit more women to enter so that they too could one day have the opportunity to be leaders. Similarly, in law firms, there are so few women that it becomes increasingly difficult for other women to enter as they are unable to relate or find advisors and guiders that have faced the same obstacles and challenges as a woman in a male dominant field.
Personally, I prefer a woman in a position of leadership, more specifically, a working mother or wife as she would be more understanding with her fellow female subordinates. As an example, my daughter had a stomach bug this past week and I was late to work four out of five days. One day in particular, we woke up to poop and puke NINE times and I didn’t think that I would be able to make to work but I feel that the organization expects me to come to work anyway (I did) because I made a personal choice to have children. I think that because we do live in a patriarchal society, policies have been developed from a male’s perspective and as a result they are NOT family friendly, and that is unfortunate.

Blog #29

I have had the opportunity to interview a couple of minority women lawyers and inquired as to their reasons for working for the government (public sector) rather than in private practice where there is ample opportunity for more lucrative positions and higher salary. I have noticed the same pattern across the board in real life and as described by Holly English. Working mothers in particular experience a much more difficult time making a commitment to a position in private practice because of familial obligations. Often times the case load in private practice requires that one be willing to work additional hours, up to 70-80 hours a week and that becomes a challenge for a mother and wife because women in our society are expected to be caregivers and homemakers regardless of their profession. Women are still presumed to be nurturing, loving and mothering as their primary responsibilities. Therefore, when a woman chooses a career, she is not expected to sacrifice her other obligations and as a result, there are less women in positions that require higher responsibility and longer hours thus leaving numerous opportunities for men to continue to dominate the field. Also, because private law firms offer less flexibility than your typical 8-5 government job, working mothers opt to sacrifice more money and prestige over a predictable schedule in the public sector. Based on the stories of the NPR news, a minority woman faces even greater difficulty because not only is she a minority once for being a woman but she is a minority twice for being a woman of color and having what we could call “2 strikes” against her in white male dominated field, her status as a competent and credible attorney is jeopardized twice. And if the woman is attractive then that is an additional strike and even more credibility is taken away and it becomes increasingly difficult for others in the field, particularly men, to take her seriously and this is unfortunate because essentially what is happening is that women are being penalized for being themselves.

Blog #28

The article discussing the harsh criticism of the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor from the New Republic is astounding and it puts into perspective the male dominant norm that has been set as a standard particularly for judgeships and it further undermines the competence and intelligence of very brilliant woman. For the New Republic to have purposely left out remarks and cropped quotations in order to advance their own personal attacks, feelings and agenda is preposterous and it further insults the readers as they (the publication makers) assume that the readers are not sufficiently educated on the subject matter to question what is being written about a Latina woman. Rather than focusing on her academic and work related accomplishments which are rather impressive they instead focus on one thing primarily, her temper. According to Holly English, women that she interviewed shared a similar sentiment that when they display emotion and they seem to be “on top of it” in the courtroom and asking the right questions or interrogating a witness firmly, they are criticized for either being too emotional, or to be too into themselves, or even worse, they are considered to be, “difficult, temperamental or as a nasty B$%&*” according to the Media Matters article. It is clear that in the 21st century and in 2009 after having the first person of color elected to the highest position of power, women that are as equally as competent are viewed rather differently. At least President Obama still has the advantage of being a man because if either Hilary Clinton or Sara Palin would have been in office right now, the criticism would continue and perhaps even become harsher. It would of course come from men who have been accustomed to living in a man’s world for so long that having it any other way seems almost impossible to handle.

Blog #27

The interviews in Holly English’s book explicitly state that a big disadvantage that female attorneys face, particularly attractive ones, is that they are not taken seriously because the field has been dominated by men and now that women are entering it, it is presumed that they are entering a man’s territory. Furthermore, because women are stereotyped as emotional, passive and weak, this too has presented as a challenge for women in attempting to prove that they are competent. Because we live in a gendered society where men are deemed to protect women, men are considered legitimate and competent and therefore their ability to fight a case as an attorney is one that hardly goes unquestioned. But when a woman attempts to argue and fight for a client in court we often say things like “Roar” as though she is a cat taking out her claws. Or we may think that she is a B*&^% for stepping out of her traditional role in attempts to be firm and prove her point. In addition, because we have presumed roles for both men and women, it also makes a difference when it comes to pay and a gap continues to exist in income between men and women. Again, it is because it is a man’s world that women encounter difficulty in proving that they too are capable of performing a job equally as well. Undoubtedly, there are both men and women that exceed in different fields and it is time that we start giving credit where it needs to be given. Throughout my career in public service, particularly in the court system I have come across many competent male and female lawyers and I don’t have a doubt in my mind that women are as capable or in some matters like family law that they may have a greater understanding and more compassion and therefore be able to represent their clients in a better way. Personally, I think that it will be a long-long time before women reach equality and that is simply because we are underrepresented in the field. I would very much like to go to law school but I have two young children to spend time with and I am unwilling to sacrifice that. For women that do wait to have children after becoming lawyers also continue to experience salary gaps because they generally work less hours because they have a second job at home as a homemaker and caregiver. I doubt that roles will change anytime soon but in the mean time I am hopeful that there will be less inequality.

Blog #26

Males represent the majority of the lawyer population and as a result there are more male mentors than there are women. Because the legal field is one that is dominated by males, they play a huge rule in defining the rules, the code of conduct, the style of dress and furthermore the standards for being a respectable lawyer. When women lawyers enter the field and are being coached by a male attorney, the training, advice and opinions are those of man and a male perspective. As a result, the female attorney may not be receiving adequate mentoring and advice as the treatment of them is differently than man. In Holly English’s book, an interviewee made a note that when a male lawyer makes his case in court and is firm he is deemed to have done his job and is commended for it. However, when a female lawyer attempts to take the samp position and be firm, she is considered to be going against her gender expectations of being passive thus labeling her as something other than a good lawyer. Although there are excellent female lawyers as I know many of them, they are far fewer and therefore a new attorney is likely to be mentored by a male than a female. The advantages of having an experienced female lawyer assist another woman is that she understands what it is like to work in a gendered organization where a man has essentially made up the rules with only people like himself involved similar to the prison system where women were simply an afterthought. As a result of having men dominate the field, it will undoubtedly take time to break those gender barriers until they are equally as flexible for women because as we have learned gender neutral essentially translates into not feminine and when we think this is acceptable we are not doing enough to reach equality in the field as an attorney.

Blog #25

We live in a society in which undoubtedly, sex will sell. The media and popular culture reinforce that men and women have specific gender roles. Men for instance are expected to be masculine, strong, and protective whereas women are considered to be more passive, weak and of course sexy. Furthermore there are products that define what femininity and masculinity are and as a result those products are sold to us and we buy them with the intent that we will represent that image or that we will achieve that status with the purchase of certain things. If we look at advertisements for clothing, perfume and other things, we often see a woman portrayed as a sexual object. Sexualized behavior in the work place is indeed a ‘weapon in the arsenal’ particularly for women as their physique is something that is a central part of their persona, in our society at least as most of the representations are from the male gaze. When an attractive female lawyer wins a case in court for example, men think that it is sexy because according to the interviews conducted by Holly English, often women that are very attractive become a distraction and are not really taken seriously. Therefore, when males actually witness an intelligent and attractive female lawyer become successful, it is a bonus because she is smart and beautiful. Although a woman’s shape and size should really not be relevant, in the legal field it is. Women have the advantage through their physical assets and features to gain admiration and recognition and it is unfortunate that women have to resort to this because there should not be a double standard but then again the male domination has left them with little recourse. If we imagine that we are a juror in a case getting ready to listen to a closing argument from a male attorney, we anxiously await to see what he is going to say and how he delivers it. However, if a female attorney was in that same position and she was also attractive, we would not necessarily be anxious to hear what she has to say so that we can compare it to her male counterpart but we would pay close attention to her movements, the way she is dressed, how she delivers the message, is she too passive or too aggressive (comparing it to the male) and ultimately, we judge her by how she presents herself, physically as we could have been too distracted to have paid full attention to her closing argument. Unfortunately, the cons to sexualized behavior is that women are continuously accused of using sex to make a gain however the truth is that sexualized behavior is what will capture the most attention, then we will pay attention to anything else she might have to say.