{"id":13021,"date":"2011-03-20T13:38:47","date_gmt":"2011-03-20T18:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=13021"},"modified":"2011-03-20T13:39:35","modified_gmt":"2011-03-20T18:39:35","slug":"ponderings-of-a-law-professor-where-are-womens-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2011\/03\/ponderings-of-a-law-professor-where-are-womens-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"Ponderings of a Law Professor: Where Are Women’s Voices?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I hated the silence.\u00a0 In law school classes where the professor relied solely on volunteers, I hated the silence and ended up raising my hand more often than not.\u00a0 I found I was most interested and engaged in class not when there was lecture but when there was some sort of dialogue, and there needs to be more than one voice to dialogue.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t really want to hear my own voice all the time (and I\u2019m certain my classmates didn\u2019t want to hear it all the time, either), but I would offer it if no one else spoke up.<\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019m remembering myself speaking more than I actually did.\u00a0 Or maybe I was an anomaly.\u00a0 A female law student quoted in\u00a0a recent National Jurist post<\/a>said that \u201cit feels like men do most of the talking during class discussions.\u201d And indeed they might. \u00a0Data from the 2010 Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE)<\/a> suggest that women do not speak up as much as men in law school classes.\u00a0\u00a0The National Jurist reports<\/a> that according to the LSSSE, which for 2010 surveyed 25,000 law students at 77 law schools, 47% of women students frequently ask questions in class, while 56% of male students do.\u00a0 This, LSSSE notes, is an area \u201cthat needs attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

What isn\u2019t clear from the LSSSE results (at least not the overview of the results to which I link above) is whether \u201cclass\u201d means large classes, small classes and seminars, or both.\u00a0 It also isn\u2019t clear how \u201cfrequently\u201d would be defined:\u00a0 Would it mean every class?\u00a0 Several times per week?\u00a0 It may be that the law students who completed the survey supplied their own definitions, which makes the results a bit harder to interpret.\u00a0 Even so, the results are not surprising.\u00a0 Many studies over the past two decades have documented similar findings.\u00a0 What\u2019s surprising, and bothersome, is that despite women\u2019s increasing presence in law schools to the point of being roughly half of all law students, we are still documenting their relative silence.<\/p>\n

Nearly every study I\u2019ve read on women and law school \u2013 from Taunya Lovell Banks\u2019 1988 article\u00a0Gender Bias in the Classroom<\/em> (38 J. Legal Educ. 137) to Lani Guinier, Michelle Fine, and Jane Balin\u2019s 1994 classic\u00a0Becoming Gentlemen:\u00a0 Women\u2019s Experiences at One Ivy League Law School <\/em>(143 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1) to Sari Bashi and Maryana Iskander\u2019s more recent\u00a0Why Legal Education is Failing Women<\/em> (18 Yale L.J. & Feminism 389 (2006)) \u2013 has uniformly concluded that there is lower class participation for women.\u00a0 Whether the evidence is statistical or anecdotal, men participate more and speak for longer periods of time in class.\u00a0 For example, Bashi and Iskander found at Yale Law School men were 40% more likely than women to volunteer in class.\u00a0 Guinier, Fine, and Balin found that at Penn women were \u201csignificantly\u201d more likely\u00a0not <\/em>to ask questions or volunteer in class.\u00a0 Joan Krauskopf found in her study of nine Ohio law schools that men reported volunteering or asking questions twice as often as women.\u00a0 (Joan M. Krauskopf,Touching the Elephant:\u00a0 Perceptions of Gender Issues in Nine Law Schools<\/em>, 44 J. Legal Educ. 311, 325 (1994)).<\/p>\n

Law school\u2019s signature pedagogy \u2013 the Socratic method \u2013 is particularly silencing for women.\u00a0 In\u00a0Professor Elizabeth Mertz\u2019s comprehensive study of law school classrooms<\/a> where the Socratic method was used, she found a gender imbalance in favor of men.\u00a0 Mertz\u2019s study is based on in-class observations of first-year contracts classes at eight different law schools.\u00a0 Classes were tape recorded and coded by coders with graduate degrees in anthropology, linguistics, or sociology.\u00a0 Some data suggest that women will speak more frequently in smaller, less Socratic-type classes, like seminars.\u00a0 Professor Cheryl Hanna, from Vermont Law School, is quoted in the National Jurist offering a similar view:\u00a0 \u201c[A]s the curriculum evolves from the hypercompetitive individualistic Socratic method to more collaborative projects, skill-based work, the gender difference are [sic] less of an issue.\u201d\u00a0 As well, Professor Mertz found a gender imbalance\u00a0in favor of<\/em> women when the class was structured around shorter, more informal conversations. \u00a0Mertz,\u00a0The Language of Law School: Learning to \u201cThink Like a Lawyer,\u201d<\/em> 193-94.<\/p>\n

Many reasons have emerged for the reasons behind women\u2019s silence in the classroom.\u00a0 Women may participate less in class because they are called on less.\u00a0 Bashi and Iskander note that at Yale men were cold-called in class 17% more than women.\u00a0 18 Yale L.J. & Feminism at 407.\u00a0 I think most professors employ a variety of techniques to make sure they call on each student in the class and many are mindful of the need to balance the discussion between men and women, a point presented in the National Jurist post.\u00a0 However, where a professor relies on volunteers or where the professor answers in-class student questions, those volunteers and those students who ask the questions may well be predominantly male, something that professors may not consciously notice.<\/p>\n

Women may participate less because the Socratic method and the style of dialogue is often confrontational, a style that many women (indeed, perhaps many men) do not prefer.\u00a0 But, notes Lindsay Watkins, LSSSE\u2019s project manager, in the National Jurist post, \u201cFemale students are less likely to place themselves in situations they perceive to be risky.\u201d\u00a0 Finally, women may also be choosing silence over participation in what they deem to be an oppressive learning environment; that is, silence may be a form of resistance.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0most recent LSSSE results<\/a> provide some new information on the reasons for women\u2019s silence.\u00a0 This year\u2019s LSSSE collected data from 4,626 students at 22 law schools on student motivation:\u00a0 what brought students to law school and what keeps them working hard after they are there.\u00a0 The results indicate that motivation for working hard in law school varies along gender lines. \u00a0Women are more likely than men to be motivated by fear of failure and avoiding embarrassment in front of peers, two kinds of motivation that may drive women to silence in the classroom.\u00a0 On the other hand, LSSSE results show that women are also more likely than men to be motivated to perform to the best of their abilities and to have an inherent interest in the material.\u00a0 These intrinsic motivators bode well for women\u2019s performance and, in my view, suggest that women\u00a0want <\/em>to engage with the material; however, perhaps those powerful extrinsic motivators \u2013 fear of failure and embarrassment \u2013 prevent them from doing so.<\/p>\n

While some might think that not speaking in class is a plus, when the class grade depends in part on participation, women are at a disadvantage. \u00a0Also, lack of class participation means it\u2019s easier to become less engaged in learning.\u00a0 Nonparticipation in class means women\u2019s voices are not heard, which affects women\u2019s self-esteem, but also sends a message about the legal profession in general.\u00a0 As Professor Mertz says, \u201c[L]aw school classrooms in which discourse is largely dominated by white men teach a subtle lesson about the social dimensions of discourse norms in this new arena [the legal profession], about entitlement and whose views matter.\u201d Mertz,\u00a0supra<\/em>, at 175.<\/p>\n

Women, we need to be hearing from you more in class!<\/p>\n

(Cross-posted<\/a> from Ms. JD.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hated the silence.\u00a0 In law school classes where the professor relied solely on volunteers, I hated the silence and ended up raising my hand more often than not.\u00a0 I found I was most interested and engaged in class not when there was lecture but when there was some sort of dialogue, and there needs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-education","category-legal-practice","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}