Neither Here nor There: Of the Female in American Legal Education

Abstract

In this Critical Review Essay, Professor Obiora brings together work from many traditions to address the issue of how differences among students beyond gender–and, in particular, differences in terms of race–might affect legal education. After situating the question in terms of the literature on legal education generally (including standard critiques), she delves into work on gender–in law generally, in kgal education, in moral development and learning, in language use, and in education generally–to elucidate hypothesized differences between men and women that might affect differential experience in law school. She then moves on to make the picture more complex by drawing on work that indicates cross‐cultural and class‐based variation around conceptions of gender. Using research by sociolinguists on educational processes and work by historians and feminists of color on the intersection of gender, race, and class, Professor Obiora suggests specific ways in which women of color and working‐class women might diverge from middle‐class white women in their approach to kgal education. In particular, she notes: (1) different speech patterns and linguistic socialization lend different meaning to “voice,”“silence,” and “interruption” in classroom interactions; (2) the historical distinction between public and private spheres has been much more sharply drawn for upper‐middle‐class white women than it has been for black and working‐class women; (3) the exclusion of black women from male “chivalry” and feminine idealization necessitated the development of agency; black women could not afford to be passive. Given these points of divergence, but also given convergences among the experiences of women, Obiora suggests a complex and contextually sensitive approach to the issue of gender in legal education, one that takes seriously the differences that exist among women. Because of the richness of the literature reviewed here, we include a Bibliography at the end of the article.

Thinking like a lawyer: Gender differences in the production of professional knowledge

“…Some authors have argued that the experiences of law students of color differs from that of white students (see Guinier, Fine, and Balin, 1997;Obiora, 1996). Similarly, Granfield (1992) argues that working class students have different motivations and reactions than students who are more well-off financially.…”

Exploring Women’s Experience in Ivy League Law School Classrooms

“…Participants in our study referenced gendered speech and gender different participation in terms of how they were both spoken to in the classroom and how they were supposed to speak in the classroom. Many participants outlined a reticence to speak about women"s issues so that they would not seem to "emotional" which would seem to be viewed as a weakness according to law school pedagogy (Obiora, 1996). Research participants not only outlined their experience in the classroom but also discussed the experience of female faculty members in law schools.…”