Time to Act: A Call for Accountability Amid a Crisis of Female Representation
Work-life pressures and numerous other challenges have led to women being included in law firm leadership at rates that lag far behind female leadership in other industries. These pressures also contribute to women struggling to envision a long-term career path in the law that adequately balances their work and personal aspirations.
October 15, 2024 at 08:00 AM
8 minute read
Special SectionsIn the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wrote about the pressing need for the legal profession to retain female attorneys in the face of the "great resignation." Now, nearly two years later—and despite major shifts in the way we work—it remains apparent that not enough is being done across our industry to prioritize the growth and success of women in a historically male-dominated field.
We know that women, even in two-income, two full-time job households, often still take on more than half of the domestic labor activities and the better share of family management. (Discussion and correction of these longstanding inequities is a topic for another article— further mired by growing cultural and social media trends #tradwives?). Too often, women find that the rigid and outdated expectations of life at a law firm are incompatible with the myriad roles they fill outside of the office. But the long-term success of our industry will require firm leaders to create systems that support the needs of all lawyers to advance.
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