FEMINISM IN LEGAL PROFESSION – BEATING THE ODDS
If any female feels she needs anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be selfdefining, her agency.” Bell Hooks, Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics
“The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. Roseanne Barr
I' am a feminist because I don’t think that being women limit me in any way. I myself have never been able to find out what feminism is all about; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from
others.
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However, my ideas and opinions as well as my ability to articulate them are largely a result of my coming in contact with some exceptional feminist teachers during my education. It is this good fortune that makes me determined to argue for feminism in the legal profession. The argument put forth by this Article is that legal feminism should form an integral part of the legal profession and not to be treated as a …show more content…
This Article will highlight the challenges in the way of becoming a leading women lawyer and provides some tips to overcome these challenges on the path to becoming a leading women lawyer. The aim of this paper is not to perpetuate stereotypical gender differences rather, to highlights some of the potential challenges unique to a leading female lawyer and attempts to provide some viable solutions to overcome those challenges.
CHALLENGES FOR WOMEN IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION
Gender Stereotypes
A long running obstacle to equal opportunity involves the mismatch between characteristics associated with women and those associated with professional success. Gender stereotypes influence behavior at both conscious and unconscious levels and work against women’s advancement in several respects. Women risk the criticism for being too “soft” or too “strident,” too “aggressive” or “not aggressive enough.” And what appears to be assertive in a man often appears to be abrasive/ harsh in a woman. Women lawyers’ particularly younger women are often judged in comparison to the characteristics of their male counterparts. Women who