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Supreme Court Justices O'Connor, Sotomayor, Ginsburg and Kagan
Public Domain |
According to
Bloomberg, women in general are underrepresented at Wall Street law firms and female partners are badly underrepresented at these firms. The
ABA Journal reports that: "Law360’s third annual 'Glass Ceiling Report' surveyed 300 law firms with U.S. offices; the numbers reflect 2015. Its data showed that there are 8,549 attorneys practicing at Wall Street Law firms. Of that total, 17.1 percent are male partners, and only 3.9 percent are female partners. This puts women at 18.6 percent of Wall Street firms’ partnership ranks."
Law360 further
reports that "Wall Street firms are notorious for keeping their partner ranks trim, but climbing to that top rung remains even more challenging for women, with less than 4 percent of female attorneys at those firms defying the odds to make the cut, a Law360 study found."
While the underrepresentation of women in the law partnership (and upper corporate) ranks gets little press, the underrepresentation of AMERICA on the U. S. Supreme Court seems to get even less press! Am I the only one concerned that all the justices come from only THREE LAW SCHOOLS (Yale, Harvard and one from Columbia). And with all the talk about whether a new nominee should get a Senate hearing, no one is concerned that the justice replacing Scalia (from Harvard) is, you guessed it, a HARVARD graduate. Now nothing against Yale or Harvard which are fine schools, but doesn't it seem like prima facie proof of an old boy's network in the Supreme Court given some 200 law schools in the U.S. How can we expect our nation's President (who nominates), Senate (who confirms) and top court (who says nothing) to see job discrimination
ReplyDeleteI agree with Phil. All of America would benefit by increased diversity throughout the public and private sectors. This diversity should not only include gender and racial diversity but also diversity of thought and economic backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteMost of America's problems have been caused by Ivy League Uni-brained think-a-likes. The middle of the country is under represented and Washington's inability to creatively solve problems is caused by a total lack of diverse world view.
ReplyDeleteThe demand for Diversity in corporate America is justified. Equal Opportunity should abound among race, age, gender, national origin, etc. But the demand for diversity all too often tips the scales to the opposite end in favor of "reverse discrimination." Reverse discrimination--under the label "affirmative action"--is no better than discrimination in its raw form. It is all the same and often deprives the most qualified of their opportunity to take their rightful place in the workforce.
ReplyDeleteHere, women are declared to be underrepresented in Wall Street law firms. I agree women should not be deprived of their rightful opportunities IF they are the best qualified for the jobs. Make no mistake: I firmly believe there are many women who are just as and more capable of the men who often dominate the spectrum.
At least we apparently do not “see” (al beit, statistically) a major cover-up on Wall Street regarding the noticeable absence of females. Firms at least are apparently not saying they are doing everything they can to have “fair representation.” Companies should not be “doublespeaking” on diversity. “Diversity rhetoric allows corporate managers to avoid responsibility for enduring discrimination in the workplace.
"Diversity efforts, without antidiscrimination efforts, increase the likelihood that the company will be engaged in litigating and mediating disputes about discrimination.” Cheryl L. Wade, "We Are An Equal Opportunity Employer": Diversity Doublespeak. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239839799_We_Are_An_Equal_Opportunity_Employer_Diversity_Doublespeak (Last visited, May 14, 2016)
"Be Diverse!" I say...but exercise Caution against reverse discrimination, lest we paint with too broad a brush. And NO Diversity Doublespeak!
The demand for Diversity in corporate America is justified. Equal Opportunity should abound among race, age, gender, national origin, etc. But the demand for diversity all too often tips the scales to the opposite end in favor of "reverse discrimination." Reverse discrimination--under the label "affirmative action"--is no better than discrimination in its raw form. It is all the same and often deprives the most qualified of their opportunity to take their rightful place in the workforce.
ReplyDeleteHere, women are declared to be underrepresented in Wall Street law firms. I agree women should not be deprived of their rightful opportunities IF they are the best qualified for the jobs. Make no mistake: I firmly believe there are many women who are just as and more capable of the men who often dominate the spectrum.
At least we apparently do not “see” (al beit, statistically) a major cover-up on Wall Street regarding the noticeable absence of females. Firms at least are apparently not saying they are doing everything they can to have “fair representation.” Companies should not be “doublespeaking” on diversity. “Diversity rhetoric allows corporate managers to avoid responsibility for enduring discrimination in the workplace. Diversity efforts, without antidiscrimination efforts, increase the likelihood that the company will be engaged in litigating and mediating disputes about discrimination.” Cheryl L. Wade, "We Are An Equal Opportunity Employer": Diversity Doublespeak. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239839799_We_Are_An_Equal_Opportunity_Employer_Diversity_Doublespeak (Last visited, May 14, 2016)
"Be Diverse!" I say...but exercise Caution against reverse discrimination, lest we paint with too broad a brush. And NO Diversity Doublespeak!