Vol. 13 No. 9 (September 2003)
WOMEN IN THE WORLD’S LEGAL PROFESSIONS, edited
by Ulrike Schultz and Gisela Shaw. Onati International Series in Law and
Society, Oxford and Portland, OR: Hart Publishing, 2003. 482 pp. Hardback £55, ISBN 1-84113-319-1,
Paper £30, ISBN 1-84113-320-5.
Reviewed by Carla Thorson, Department of Political Science,
UCLA. E-mail: cthorson@ucla.edu
Does the legal profession change women, or do women change
the legal profession? This
is the central question driving this interdisciplinary, international project
entitled, WOMEN IN THE WORLD’S LEGAL PROFESSIONS edited by Ulrike
Schultz of FernUniversitaet (Hagen, Germany), and Gisela Shaw of the University
of the West of England (Bristol, UK).
An anthology written by twenty-eight lawyers, sociologists, and feminist
theorists, this volume follows in the footsteps of Cynthia Fuchs Epstein
and Carrie Menkel-Meadow, bringing together analyses of women in the legal
professions of fifteen countries across four continents (Australia, New
Zealand, East Asia, USA, and Latin America). The question itself is broad enough to prompt a wide variety
of responses from the contributors; while the scope of the undertaking is
extensive enough to raise significant methodological challenges. One can either applaud the effort or fault
it for attempting too much, but either way, this work will appeal to all
those interested in how women are faring in the legal profession around
the globe.
Organized not so much by theoretical approach, but by legal
traditions, the book is divided into Common Law and Civil Law countries. The differences inherent in the two legal
traditions make comparison of women practicing law across cases difficult,
and this is compounded by national differences in the organization and structure
of the legal profession and in the language of legal concepts and terms.
Women began entering the legal profession in the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth
centuries as the women’s suffrage movement successfully removed the
barriers to a legal career. As such, it is a relatively short history, and
for some of the countries surveyed, there simply hasn’t been sufficient
time for women to make their presence substantially felt in the field.
Each of the contributions to the volume is focused on women in the
legal profession of a particular country, but the approach to this issue
varies widely.
In some cases, there is quantitative assessment, such as
Rosemary Hunter on Australia, Georgina Murray on New Zealand, Clare S. McGlynn
on the United Kingdom, and Ulrike Schultz on Germany. These contributions paint a portrait not only of how many women
have entered the legal profession, but also what areas of the profession
are more populated with women than men, their degree and direction of mobility.
In most of the countries surveyed, the share of female practicing
lawyers tends to be around one-quarter to one-third.
While in the judicial field there is a striking difference between
civil law and common law countries, in the latter, women hold only a fraction
of the positions. These figures stand in contrast to the
numbers of women entering law schools, now on a par with men in virtually
every country discussed in this volume and surpassing male enrollment in
some cases.
This raises questions about the qualitative success enjoyed
by women in the legal profession—questions addressed by many of the
contributors to this anthology. This
cross-national comparison reveals that, despite significant inroads, women
remain on the fringes of the profession. For example, Schultz notes that positions
for women are often more insecure, working on temporary contracts, under
less favorable working conditions, and are often overqualified. Among practicing attorneys, women are
more often sole practitioners (Germany) or working in small law firms (Japan).
Moreover, income differentials remain significant within and across
national boundaries; women are less likely to be made partners, less likely
to specialize in high profile areas of the law, and less likely to profit
from upward mobility. In fact, women experience high degrees
of mobility but this movement is usually lateral or downward. The judiciary is the one area of the profession
that seems to be bucking this trend. Particularly in civil law countries where posts are allocated
on the basis of academic merit and women tend to prefer the advantages of
public service, the number of women jurists has risen significantly.
Half the judges in France and Italy are women, and worldwide the
figure is around one-quarter.
WOMEN IN THE WORLD’S LEGAL PROFESSIONS provides substantial
evidence to support the conclusion that women are entering the legal profession
in increasing numbers and permeating the profession, but it also reveals
segregation along gender lines. The traditional male dominated structures of the profession
survive, and women remain in the lower ranks and at the margins. The answer to the question – “Does
the profession change women?” – is not really answered in this
study, but the answer to the second question – “Do women change
the profession?” – is more easily found. Several of the contributors argue that
women lawyer differently than men (Felstiner, Lettit, Lind, Olsen, and Sommerlad),
and this impacts how clients view their attorneys. In addition, in the judiciary, it also
affects case outcomes and public perceptions of justice. These issues deserve further exploration.
There is still more work to be done. By focusing on the developed world, Africa,
the Indian subcontinent, and the Islamic world, among others, are unfortunately
not represented. In some cases
this is simply due to lack of information, Schultz notes, and in other cases
it was not possible to identify a colleague to collect the data.
There is a strong likelihood that particular cultural and national
characteristics of countries in the developing world will color women in
the legal profession as it does women in other roles in these societies.
A comparison of the developed and the developing world could prove
to be a useful addition to what is already the most extensive survey of
women in the legal profession around the world to date.
REFERENCES:
Epstein, Cynthia
Fuchs. 1993. WOMEN IN LAW (2nd ed.). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Menkel-Meadow, Carrie. 1985. “Portia in a Different Voice: Speculations on a Woman's Lawyering Process,” 1 BERKELEY WOMEN'S LAW JOURNAL 39-63.
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Copyright 2003 by the author, Carla Thorson.