A Woman in Law School

I spent the morning discussing the overt sexism on today's Sunday paper and thought about all the amazing women who have influenced my life. What did you do?

Speaking of women!

Noorain Khan asked me to spread the word about this amazing conference:

You may register at: http://www.acteva.com/go/optout
With more info found here: http://www.law.yale.edu/news/optout.htm.

"OPT OUT" OR PUSHED OUT:
ARE WOMEN CHOOSING TO LEAVE THE LEGAL PROFESSION?
March 27 – 28, 2009
Yale Law School

"Opt Out" or Pushed Out will address the controversial phenomenon described by some as "opting out," the supposed trend of professional women leaving the workplace to devote their energies to family care-taking, full time. This conference will focus on the dynamics of the "trend" within the legal profession, inviting legal practitioners, professional students, and scholars to critically assess the structural, institutional, and societal reasons why women lawyers may be departing from the workplace. It will also devote significant energy to the experiences of men and how they may be similar to – or different from – those of female attorneys. Conference panels will touch on topics of parenthood, social expectations that treat men and women differently, and how the legal field can learn from other professions that have begun to accommodate the reality of male and female professionals' multi-faceted lives. Men and women in the legal profession -- practitioners, students, and scholars -- will come together to critically assess the structural, institutional and societal pressures that affect all attorneys and have made balance particularly elusive for women. The aim is to generate concrete goals and methods for improving the structure of the workplace and social perceptions of the occupational choices that attorneys make.
Speakers Include:
§ E.J. Graff, Senior Researcher at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism and head of the Gender and Justice Project

§ Pamela Stone, Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and author of Opting Out? Why Women Really Quit Careers and Head Home

§ Leslie Bennetts, author of The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much

§ Pat Gillette, Founder of the Opt-In Project

§ Wendy Schmidt, Principal, Deloitte and former national leader of Deloitte's U.S. Women's Initiative Network (WIN)

§ The Honorable Nancy Gertner, Judge, U. S. District Court, District of Massachusetts and member of the Equality Commission

§ Francine Deutsch, Professor of Psychology and Education, Mount Holyoke College




I may just have to attend!