Comments on: Where are the Women? Not Too Many in the October, November or December Issues of the Columbia Law Review. Eighteen of Twenty-One Published Authors are Male. Only One Author is a Woman Law Prof. http://www.feministlawprofessors.com/2009/12/where-are-the-women-not-too-many-in-the-october-november-or-december-issues-of-the-columbia-law-review-eighteen-of-twenty-one-published-authors-are-male-only-one-author-is-a-woman-law-prof/ Nearly all of us root for fairness, not for our own sex. - Nicholas Kristof Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:26:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bridget Crawford http://www.feministlawprofessors.com/2009/12/where-are-the-women-not-too-many-in-the-october-november-or-december-issues-of-the-columbia-law-review-eighteen-of-twenty-one-published-authors-are-male-only-one-author-is-a-woman-law-prof/comment-page-1/#comment-6621 Bridget Crawford Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:58:14 +0000 http://feministlawprofessors.com/?p=14279#comment-6621 Does leadership by women act as an insurance policy against discrimination against women? No. Could it be "pure happenstance" that the "best" articles submitted to this journal during this season were written by men? Yes. Is there a larger national trend here? Yes. Minna Kotkin documents that in her "Of Authorship and Audacity Article," http://ssrn.com/abstract=1140644. Bias (of all kinds) can be conscious and unconscious. Unless there is a truly blind submission and review process, I am not persuaded by the happenstance argument. Does leadership by women act as an insurance policy against discrimination against women? No.

Could it be “pure happenstance” that the “best” articles submitted to this journal during this season were written by men? Yes.

Is there a larger national trend here? Yes. Minna Kotkin documents that in her “Of Authorship and Audacity Article,” http://ssrn.com/abstract=1140644.

Bias (of all kinds) can be conscious and unconscious. Unless there is a truly blind submission and review process, I am not persuaded by the happenstance argument.

]]> By: wordpress23 http://www.feministlawprofessors.com/2009/12/where-are-the-women-not-too-many-in-the-october-november-or-december-issues-of-the-columbia-law-review-eighteen-of-twenty-one-published-authors-are-male-only-one-author-is-a-woman-law-prof/comment-page-1/#comment-6620 wordpress23 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:50:51 +0000 http://feministlawprofessors.com/?p=14279#comment-6620 The idea that the law review discriminates against women is ludicrous. The editor-in-chief is a woman. Three of six executive board members are women. Three of seven editors on the articles committee are women. The head of the essays committee is a woman. Overall, 17 of 32 members in a position of responsibility are women. Law reviews are just looking to get the best articles they can find. Sometimes those articles are by women, sometimes they are by men. Maybe men wrote more article this past semester? Maybe men just happened to write more good articles? Given the tiny sample size, it could well even have been pure happenstance. In any case, every law review's job is to publish the most thoughtful work it can find, not to artificially fill quotas. The idea that the law review discriminates against women is ludicrous. The editor-in-chief is a woman. Three of six executive board members are women. Three of seven editors on the articles committee are women. The head of the essays committee is a woman. Overall, 17 of 32 members in a position of responsibility are women.

Law reviews are just looking to get the best articles they can find. Sometimes those articles are by women, sometimes they are by men. Maybe men wrote more article this past semester? Maybe men just happened to write more good articles? Given the tiny sample size, it could well even have been pure happenstance. In any case, every law review’s job is to publish the most thoughtful work it can find, not to artificially fill quotas.

]]>