A couple of years ago, Saudi Arabia registered their first-ever female lawyer. That woman has been quoted saying that she is a pioneer and has a lot of responsibility being the first to do something, let alone the first woman to practice law in a country such as Saudi Arabia. You would think that in a country where women have been practicing law since 1890 such as the US, they would be close to equal with the men in their field. As with most occupations, that is not the case. Women in law have issues making partner in their firms. Not only is it still a battle but the numbers of women who are achieving the level of partner is actually in decline. Many current focuses such as family-friendliness and paid maternity leave could be playing parts in the inconsistent numbers.
Many law students are determining their future successes up-front now when figuring out where they should be working. There is a list on the site where I found my information (managingpartner.com) that lists the 10 most family friendly firms in the country.
While that is helpful, the issue of women in law enforcement and legal fields being underrepresented both altogether and in leadership positions is still there. In my third article, slightly more light is shined in the law enforcement field where while females only make up 12% of the 700,000 sworn officers in this country, in bigger cities there are cases where there is 1 woman to 4 men. Not the best numbers when looked at blindly but definitely better than they have been in the past since women have infiltrated the officer world.
In many of the major law agencies in America, women are at the forefront. While much of the nation sits back and waits for them to falter so that they can blame it on a gender non-issue, they are still there. They made it to the position. In their field, they are "partner". Which is an amazing step forward.
Article links: http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/09/business/saudi-arabia-first-female-lawyer/index.html
http://www.managingpartner.com/news/hr/fewer-women-are-making-partner-us-law-firms
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/17/opinion/drexler-shooting-women/index.html
Nicely written article for your blog! I enjoyed reading this. I think that this woman is extremely brave to becoming the first female lawyer in Saudi Arabia. The fact that this a country that does not tend to look too highly on women is amazing to see how far they are coming. I believe that both male and females will be focused on this female, some in hopes to see her fail and others in support with her. It’s a great sight to see females working their way up in careers to becoming on the same field level as men, thus proving that women are just as smart and intelligent as men, if not more than. There has definitely been an increase of women working in the legal criminal justice field, and I am sure that this will continue to grow slowly in the future a s more people are becoming educated about such job careers. As you stated in this blog that there is a 1 to 4 ratio of women to men as sworn officers in this country, this is simply the beginning of women coming into the same fields as men.
ReplyDeleteYes, women will be looked at with a closer eye to see if they fail in such careers that have been depicted for men only. Therefore, women must work harder to prove to their selves and the world that they have the same work characteristics are men and are not afraid to get their hands dirty.
---Christina Solomon (solomonch@vcu.edu)