Women in the Law
Stereotypes Blamed for Job Review Bias Against Women
Posted Oct 1, 2008, 07:37 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Updated: Stereotypes may be the reason women lawyers are more likely than their male counterparts to report bias in job reviews, according to a report by the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession.
Commission researchers said that assertive, demanding female lawyers are given low marks for interpersonal skills while male lawyers are praised for the same behavior, reports the Wall Street Journal’s Front Lines blog. Supervisors also may unconsciously give higher ratings to lawyers most like them—men with spouses at home.
The report, "Fair Measure: Toward Effective Attorney Evaluations," also cites research showing mothers face more discrimination, according to the Front Lines account. One study reported lower ratings for women if their resume indicates they have a 2-year-old child. Another study showed job evaluations of women managers worsen after they become pregnant.
The report listed these "descriptive stereotypes" that make it harder for women to establish their competence:
• He's skilled; she's lucky.
• He's busy; she has trouble with deadlines.
• He's thoughtful; she's hesitant.
• He's prudent; she's passive.
• He's incisive; she's abrasive.
• He knows his own worth; she's a shameless self-promoter.
The women’s commission says law firms can fight bias with a standard performance review system based on job requirements. The report, which includes sample evaluations and how-to tips, can be purchased on the ABA website.
Answer our related Question of the Week: "Isn't That Question Illegal?"
Revised at 11:50 a.m. to include additional information from the report.
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Comments
Posted by Lawya Mommma - 1 month, 2 weeks, 6 days, 12 hours, 43 minutes ago
I find this to be absolutely true. My firm had never given me a review until I came back from maternity leave. And, then it was bad. They blamed an attorney who had left. When I called her to ask, she denied everything they’d said.
Posted by BiasIsReal - 1 month, 2 weeks, 6 days, 11 hours, 58 minutes ago
Unfortunately, this is true. At my last job, despite great annual reviews, I was let go after complaining about a male partner’s inappropriate behavior because “it wasn’t working out.” Yesterday I went to a job interview at a firm that, surprisingly, practices employment law. At the interview, the principal asked me if I have kids. When I explained that the question was illegal and that he couldn’t ask me such a question, he responded “C’mon, I’m not going to discriminate against you if you do.” I responded, “Not that it’s any of your business, but no, I do not.” He said, “Good, so we won’t have any issues with picking up or dropping off babies then…. and you can work 9am-7pm?” Wow. It’s a good thing he wasn’t going to discriminate against me, right?
Posted by anon - 1 month, 2 weeks, 6 days, 7 hours, 47 minutes ago
BiasIsReal,
I was asked the exact same question at an interview once. When I reminded the attorney she wasn’t supposed to ask that, she told me this “wasn’t really part of the interview”, she was trying to get to know me. Never mind we were still sitting in the conference room where I had just met with my potential supervisor, who was still there.
They asked for my references a few days later. I decided agaisnt sending them.
Posted by L Kay Wilson - 1 month, 2 weeks, 6 days, 7 hours, 21 minutes ago
When interviewing with a commercial law firm in the 90’s, I was asked what my child bearing plans were and what my father did for a living. Sexism and classism, all in the same interview.
Posted by BiasIsReal - 1 month, 2 weeks, 5 days, 11 hours, 6 minutes ago
That is depressing, particularly when women ask such questions. That reminds me of my first legal job at relatively well-known health care law firm, which was headed by a woman and two, seemingly silent male partners. When I found out that I made considerably less than my male counterpart, with whom I went to school, who graduated the same year as I did, I was furious. When I learned that a female associate that attended UCLA Law School, made less money than a male associate who graduated from Loyola Marymount Law School a year after the UCLA graduate, I left.
Posted by NotJustLawFirms - 1 month, 2 weeks, 3 days, 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
Illegal questions don’t occur only in law firms. In the 90’s, when I interviewed for a federal appellate clerkship, the judge asked me whether I was married, whether I planned to get married, and what religion I practiced.