A blog reader writes in with the following list of “Eleven (or More) Unpleasant Ways to Discover Anti-Woman Bias at Your Law School.”
1. The school has no formal maternity leave or parental-leave policies, meaning the Dean gets to decide how things will go, and favoritism often results in disparate “deals.”
2. Someone on the Faculty Appointments Committee says: (a) “Maybe if we hire more African-American women we can get rid of the ones we currently have — just kidding;” or (b) “This candidate is an articulate black woman.”
3. At a faculty meeting, a professor states he wishes his African-American colleagues were not in the room, because there is “something” he “cannot say” when they are present. When an African-American faculty member asks, “Do you want us to leave so you white people can talk amongst yourselves,” the initial speaker acts offended.
4. Whenever a case involves an African-American plaintiff, an African-American student is called on by the professor to “give the black perspective.” Or, every time the topic is rape, sexual harassment or anything gender-related, either all of the students that are called on are female, or none of them are.
5. A colleague refers to someone as “the best female Contracts/Corporations/Tax/Securities Law/IP teacher I’ve ever met.” Or, a colleague congratulates a female prof for getting tenure by informing her she “turned out really well for an affirmative action hire.”
6. A female professor disparages a male colleague for tolling his tenure clock after the birth of a child.
7. The students at the school don’t know there is an anti-discrimination policy that applies to all on-campus recruiters. Or, students who report hiring violations by lawyers at big powerful firms get the cold shoulder from the Placement Office.
8. The GBLT student group has only two members, because no other GBLT students are willing to have their names on the group’s e-mail list. Or, the school doesn’t have a GBLT student group. Or, a senior heterosexual professor insists upon being the group’s advisor so that s/he can show how open minded s/he is, despite massive evidence to the contrary, cough cough.
9. A very senior colleague says (not in jest), “I’ve never heard of feminist legal theory. What is it?” Or, when hearing that a faculty candidate is interested in feminist theory, a professor (a) proclaims that Catharine MacKinnon “is a twit;” or (b) asks if the candidate is married.
10. All of the school’s legal writing positions are held by women. Or, mostly men are hired despite the fact that the applicant pool is overwhelming female.
11. People of color who are “high-ranking” school administrators hold exclusively “supporting” positions, not policy-setting positions. Or, people of color who work at the law school in non-faculty positions fill only faculty assistant and/or janitorial roles.
-Name withheld by request
Number 10 is almost true at my school. All but one of the legal writing positions are held by women. I hadn’t thought about this before, but it’s an interesting point.