Does Lack of Chutzpah Account for Dearth of Articles by Female Law Profs?

The top law reviews are printing fewer articles by women than men, according to a study by a Brooklyn Law School professor. She says the reason may be gender bias, a suggestion that is provoking some debate among bloggers.

Professor Minna Kotkin analyzed articles in the top 15 law reviews over a three-year period and found that only about 20 percent of them are written solely by women. Columbia had the highest percentage of women-only articles followed by UCLA and Georgetown. Her article summarizing her findings is published at SSRN.

Kotkin offers a number of hypotheses for her findings but concludes “there is a strong suggestion of gender bias,” especially since the “prime writing cohort”—tenure-track teachers—is 44 percent female. “At the very least, this article raises serious questions about the gender-blindness of editorial boards,” she writes.

She says law reviews should accept only blind submissions that don’t identify the gender or school of the author.

Kotkin goes on to suggest another factor that may play a role in the disparity, and it comes down to chutzpah. “My sense is that male academics have more audacity than women,” she writes. “Not all, but some men network incessantly, blog or make sure they are blogged about, have the flexibility to relocate to schools up the feeding chain, send out those infernal reprints, invite themselves to symposia and colloquia, and generally make sure they are noticed. Some also have wives at home to take care of the pediatrician visits and the dry cleaning.”

A recent international study echoes Kotkin's observation. It found that found professional women do less than men to draw attention to their accomplishments.

Kotkin comes to her conclusions after examining several hypotheses for the low number of articles. One of the theories is that women are submitting fewer articles than men—a suggestion endorsed by some legal bloggers.

Kotkin says women may write less because of family responsibilities or because they undervalue their work. Kotkin cites psychology professor Virginia Valian, who says women lack a feeling of entitlement. Kotkin wonders if women are sending in fewer articles because they don't feel entitled.

Writing at the Volokh Conspiracy, law professor Orin Kerr of George Washington University says he suspects the problem is because of fewer women submitting articles. Kerr says a submissions database from a top journal shows that women submitted only 72 out of 200 articles.

A post at PrawfsBlog says the best way to determine whether there is a disparity is to keep track of the number of articles submitted by men and women.

Hat tip to Legal Blog Watch.