Exploring Women’s Experience in Ivy League Law School Classrooms

Abstract

This study seeks to explore the experiences of women in the law school classroom. Participants from an Ivy League law school were placed in focus groups and asked to reflect on their law classroom experiences as it pertained to their gender. Results indicated that in an environment that adheres to typical law school pedagogy -such as the Socratic method -women experienced a multitude of challenges within the classroom. The issues reported by the focus group participants generally fell into these five main themes: (1) concern about being perceived as overly emotional or speaking from experience, (2) apprehension about discussing women"s issues, (3) gender differences in participation and reinforcement, (4) gendered speech, and (5) differential treatment of female faculty members. This study demonstrates the need for an examination of pedagogical approaches to eradicate unfavorable learning environments for women in law school classrooms.

Losing Portia’s Voice: The Metapragmatic Evaluations of “Quiet” and “Loud” Female Law Students in US Mock Trial Competitions

“…Achieving success in law school entails “becoming gentlemen” (Guinier, Fine, and Balin 1997), acquiescing to academic, social, and behavioral expectations structured around masculine privileges hidden behind a veil of institutional objectivity. Portia’s fictional success in the courtroom, therefore, does not represent the reality of many female law students, for whom law school is a story of academic and professional marginalization, social alienation, and personal disillusionment (Carrington and Conley 1977; French‐Hodson 2014; Homer and Schwartz 1990; Kindschy, Perrin, and O’Neil 2014; Krakauer and Chen 2003; Mullins and Leong 2011; Neufeld 2005 ; Peralta 2015 ; Purvis 2012 ; Schwab 2003). Female students in law school have no choice but to modify their gender behavior (Guinier et al 1997).…”