Breaking the glass

For Courtney Weiner '01, the decision to attend law school after her graduation from college came before she even graduated from kindergarten. The daughter of an attorney, Weiner said that "it's just always been one of my goals."

Weiner, a history major also pursuing a certificate in women's studies at the University, will commence her law school journey in an atmosphere that, according to recent reported figures, is increasingly populated by women.

According to American Bar Association data, 49.4 percent of students who began law school last fall were women, while as of March 9, more women than men had applied for admission to law schools this fall.

Such numbers stand in marked contrast to figures from previous decades. In 1970, women accounted for only 10 percent of first-year law students, the data shows.

"Barriers to success at the highest levels in the practice of law have been declining quite steadily over time and women are responding to increases in real opportunities in law," Wilson School Undergraduate Faculty Chair Stanley Katz said.

The number of female undergraduates accepted to the Wilson School — a department that typically sees a majority of its students enter law school — parallels this trend, Katz said.

Females accounted for 52 of the 90 sophomores accepted this year. The department does not require students to indicate their gender on the application.

Medical and veterinary schools have experienced similar trends in the number of female students applying, said director of Health Professions Advising Jane Cary. Nationwide, females accounted for 46 percent of accepted medical school applicants in 2000, according to Cary. The number was slightly higher at Princeton, where 48 percent of accepted applicants in 2000 were female, she said.

Amy Garvey '01 said she noticed signs of increasing numbers of female law students while attending a recent Duke University program for admitted law students.

Of the 189 prospective students who attended, 110, or 58 percent, were female, said Garvey, who is deciding between law schools at Duke and the University of Virginia.

After visiting the two universities, Garvey said she is pleased with both schools' treatment of female students, but views Duke as "a little unique" in that the school boasts a female dean and an active women's organization.

Yet Garvey asserted that factors such as academic reputation, approach to instruction, competitiveness and location have more potential to tip the scales in favor of or against a school.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

"[A female friendly atmosphere] is one of my considerations, but that is not all I'm considering," Garvey said. "I feel very confident that I could succeed even without it."

Some experts in the field have said that, as a result of increasing numbers of female students, law professors might adopt more participatory and less adversarial methods of teaching that are suited to women, who generally are viewed as more cooperative and nurturing than their male counterparts.

"Law school is still a very gendered experience," said Katz, citing combative classrooms and the rigors of the Socratic method employed by many law schools.

Others have questioned whether changes in classroom climate are likely to occur and whether they reflect the kind of law school experience women are seeking.

"We're equating women with cooperative learning," said professor Beth Jamieson, who teaches POL 335: Women, Gender and Politics. "It's a mistake to think that women students want an easier, more collaborative approach [to learning]."

Weiner, who attended an all-girls high school and refers to herself as "able to hold my own," agreed.

"It's almost insulting to think that because we're the 'softer sex' we want [less competitive classes]," said Weiner, who added that she has not noticed a difference in professors' attitudes toward males and females during her undergraduate career.

"I've never been one to sort of shrink into the background," she said.

"The law profession is adversarial," Weiner continued. "In terms of competitiveness, you know what you're getting into."

Weiner added, however, that equality in gender distribution in the classroom may benefit more timid female students who might be less inclined to speak up in male-dominated classrooms.

Other female students planning to enter law school next year said that gender dynamics were not a particularly important factor in their initial decision to apply to law school and their subsequent selection of which school to attend.

"By the time you reach [professional] school, there's such a small proportion of people who share similar interests that gender doesn't matter," said Mara Zusman '01, who will attend Harvard Law School in the fall.

Yet Zusman — a Wilson School major who is focusing on international justice and said she may pursue a career in that field — said she does view the rise in the number of female law students as significant in how it may affect women's post-law school endeavors.

"It's important for what happens after law school, especially in the corporate law firms," Zusman said. "It really is a man's world."

Indeed, some say that the law profession and related fields will likely change as a result of the increase in women law students.

"[The profession] will have to adapt to the unique challenges of women's lives, [and their] roles in families," Women's Center Director Susan Overton said in an e-mail.

"Law will have to be more open to less than 80-100 hour work weeks to accommodate women who are still doing the lion's share of housework and childrearing," she continued, "or law firms and judicial systems will lose out on an amazing pool of talent and perspectives and interpretations of the law."

Overton cautioned, however, that a potential equaling of the female-male ratio in the legal world does not necessarily foreshadow a subsequent increase in gender equality in the field.

"Several fields have shown in the last decade that, as more women enter the field, the salaries decline," she said. "While it is very encouraging that more and more young women are entering law . . . it appears that society is still devaluing work that women do."

Katz also added that although women have gained increasing roles in government — a law-related field — the percentage of women still lags behind that of men.

"In Congress and the Cabinet there are many more women than there used to be," Katz said. "But [the number] is not representative of the percentage of women in the population."

"I would say we have a long way to go," he said.