Category: Events

by Lisa Bohl ’14

Like many of my classmates, I was thrilled that Joan Williams was coming to YLS and that I would finally have the opportunity to meet this advocate and feminist scholar in the flesh.  She and her daughter, Rachel Dempsey, a fellow classmate at YLS, spoke at a dinner discussion entitled What Works for Women at Work, which is also the title of their recently published book.  Joan and Rachel had interviewed successful professional women to learn what strategies they employed to combat four phenomena women face at work: prove-it-again (having to prove their competence repeatedly), the tightrope (striking the balance between being too feminine and too masculine), the maternal wall (getting pushed out when they have children), and the tug of war (being forced to judge other women due to the pressures of the workplace).  While many students in the audience found themselves nodding in agreement at the description of these obstacles, this turned to shock upon hearing some of the strategies women used to combat them: flirting to be more likeable, increasing your femininity, or wearing certain types of feminine clothing at the office.  Joan and Rachel explained to the bewildered faces in the room that the goal of the book was to recognize that there are deep-rooted structural problems that cause pressures in the workplace and to share the strategies that successful women used to navigate these flawed settings.  The book’s goal isn’t to encourage women to act in ways that make them uncomfortable or are antithetical to their principles, but to empirically present approaches that have worked for highly successful women.

Joan also maintained that we shouldn’t judge the choices that women make.  She gave the example of Marissa Mayer, the Yahoo CEO who incited controversy after taking only two weeks of maternity leave.  While Mayer’s action prompted vitriolic responses from women who contended that she was setting a terrible example for family-friendly workplace policies, Joan argued instead that it isn’t our role to judge women’s decisions.  There are so few women executives, and Mayer should do whatever works for her to succeed—otherwise, we would simply have no women in these positions.  Similarly, while many criticized Anne-Marie Slaughter for neglecting the experience of middle and lower-income women in her Atlantic piece, Joan’s response was that this wasn’t Slaughter’s project and that she shouldn’t be expected to address every single aspect of these issues.  That is, we should respect women’s efforts and not admonish them when they can’t act for the benefit of all womankind all the time, as this would yield a huge burden for all women.

When the audience asked Joan about the root of discrimination and unequal treatment in the workplace, she responded that it was our current conception of masculinity, and that these structural problems won’t change until we de-prioritize traditional masculinity.  I’m looking forward to Joan’s next project of engaging men in the conversation so that they’re a central force for changing the cultural dynamics of the workplace.

Learn more about What Works for Women at Work here.

YLW was thrilled and honored to welcome a very distinguished alumna back to the halls of 127 Wall Street last week: Gretchen Rubin, author of the bestselling book The Happiness Project. During a lunch event cosponsored by YLW and the Yale Law Journal, Gretchen spoke candidly to a room packed with law students, staff, and administrators about her time at Yale Law School and her decision to leave the law and pursue a career in writing.

Gretchen’s decision to give up her bar membership and become an author may have been particularly surprisingly to some, given the dazzling success she had during her brief stint as a law student and lawyer. She was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal and after law school landed a coveted clerkship with Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. In fact, it was during her clerkship that Gretchen realized that she really wanted to be a writer. At the YLW/YLJ event she recounted noticing that the other Supreme Court clerks always wanted to talk about the law and pending cases and chose to spend their spare time reading articles in law journals—whereas Gretchen spent the little free time she had researching her first book.

Gretchen suggested that the lesson of her experience is to “do what you do.” In other words, if you’re not sure what you should be doing with your career, pay attention to what you do in your spare time. What are you drawn to when you have a few moments to yourself? Chances are good that those activities make you happy, and that incorporating those activities or ways of being in the world into your future career would make you happier, too.

Learn more about Gretchen and The Happiness Project on her website.

Yale Law Women was thrilled to present our Speak Up report to the NYU Law Women Summit on February 28, 2014.  Lauren Hartz, YLS ’14 and former Chair of Yale Law Women, discussed the context, methodology, findings, and recommendations of Speak Up during the afternoon panel entitled “Translating Success from the Classroom to the Conference Room.”  Lauren was joined by Irene Dorzback, Associate Dean of New York University School of Law; Barbara Becker, Chair of the Diversity Committee at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Florencia Marotta-Wurgler, Professor of Law at NYU Law and the Faculty Director of the Academic Careers Program; and Sarah Olson, Chief Diversity Officer of Sidley Austin.  After Lauren’s presentation, the panelists offered their thoughts on gender dynamics in legal education, and how women’s experiences affect their professional careers years down the road.  The panelists expressed concern at the continued gender disparities in law firms and legal academia—especially in top positions—but were hopeful that continued awareness-raising, cultural change, and programming for men and women alike will lead to exciting progress for our generation of lawyers.

Also during the panel, Professor Marotta-Wurgler mentioned that she had presented at a Yale Law Women workshop a few years ago, and she noted that workshopping a paper with a group of women was transformative for her academic career.  She commented that as a legal academic, she is often completely surrounded by men, and that engaging with a group of women law students was a unique and empowering experience.

You can watch a recording of the panel here.  Lauren’s presentation begins around 17:00, and Professor Marotta-Wurgler’s comments about participating in a YLW workshop begin around 35:00.

Thank you to NYU Law Women for inviting YLW to present Speak Up!