GENDER INEQUALITIES IN LEGAL OCCUPATIONS (original) (raw)

Global Mechanisms for Achieving Gender Equality in the Careers of Law and the Judiciary: The State of São Paulo as A Case Study

Research on Humanities and Social Science, 2021

The objective of this work is to analise the professional vertical mobility of women in the sectors of advocacy and the judiciary through a monographic method with a case study in Brazil, state of São Paulo, and research techniques based on bibliographic and documentary analysis and their relations with the achievement of SDG 5-Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls-in particular, to ensure the full and effective participation of women and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political life, economic and public, by way of proposing the construction of models and processes capable of overcoming gender inequalities in the legal professions in constituted groups. The professional mobility of women will be assessed based on the idea of material equality for the construction of models and processes capable of overcoming gender inequalities in the legal professions. Therefore, the need for equal representation, minimum of 50%, is assumed in commissions, councils and boards, events and courses at OABSP headquarters. And yet, the revision of criteria such as seniority to rise to second level judicial positions in the São Paulo judiciary.

The Gender Pay Gap and High-Achieving Women in the Legal Profession

Law and Social Inquiry-journal of The American Bar Foundation, 2022

Although women have made significant strides in the legal profession, female attorneys continue to earn far less than male attorneys. Relying on survey data from a large sample of full-time attorneys in Texas, we find a gender pay gap of thirty-five thousand dollars at the median that cannot be explained by differences in human capital or occupational segregation. We also provide evidence that the legal market especially disadvantages women who excel in law school. Whereas high academic achievement boosts male lawyers' incomes substantially, it does not have the same effect on female lawyers' incomes. Highachieving female lawyers earn less than high-achieving male lawyers across practice settings and earn less than their lower-achieving male counterparts in private practice. We conclude that discrimination in the legal profession operates partly by devaluing female attorneys' human capital, such that sterling academic credentials and other traits that are valued in men are far less valued in women.

Women in academia: gender inequality in the academic staff of the University of São Paulo Law School

UNESCO Chair in Right to Education at the University of São Paulo, 2021

This empirical research investigated gender inequalities within the University of São Paulo Law School to test hypotheses related to the difficulties women face to access and ascend to higher positions of professors, associate professors and full professors. Although women account for approximately 41% of undergraduate students, they are only 18% of the academic staff. In this sense, this research analysed the public tenders in the faculty from 2008 to 2017, to examine whether the reduced number of women as teachers is a result of the characteristics of its selection process. The results show that there has not been any significant changes in women’s participation as faculty members over the past ten years.

The Differential Valuation of Women's Work: A New Look at the Gender Gap in Lawyers' Incomes

Social Forces, 2009

This article seeks to identify the mechanisms underlying the gender wage gap among new lawyers. Relying on nationally representative data to examine the salaries of lawyers working fulltime in private practice, we find a gender gap of about 5 percent. Identifying four mechanisms -work profiles, opportunity paths and structures, credentials, and legal markets -we first estimate how much of the gap stems from the differential valuation of women's endowments; second, we estimate the effects of different endowments for men and women; and third we assess both these possibilities. The analyses indicate that none of these mechanisms can fully account for the gender gap. Experimental studies that indicate women's work is less valued and rewarded than men's suggest new directions for research on gendered compensation. Across occupations, it is professional women who experience the largest withinjob gender wage gap (Peterson and Morgan 1995). The disparity emerges quickly, with a small gender wage gap among college graduates, then widens over time ) -so that as women's professional careers progress, they lose ground in cumulative fashion (Peterson and Saporta 2004; Valian 1998). Yet with the unprecedented numbers of women entering professional careers in recent decades, the sources and the extent of this initial wage gap for the most recent cohort remain elusive.

Gender and Difference Among Brazilian Lawyers and Judges: Public and Private Practice in the Global Periphery

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 2013

This article examines the ways in which Brazilian lawyers and judges experience difference. It focuses on how gender and diversity intersect in identity formation among women and men in public and private practice in the state of Sdo Paulo, Brazil. In attempting not to attach one fixed meaning to the concept of difference, the research works with Avtar Brah's typology, which aids in detecting how difference is perceived and experienced by the interviewees. The results provide a look at the specificities of professional practice in the global periphery, comparing the gender composition of law firms and gender stratification within legal and judicial careers, as well as respective perceptions of exclusion and prejudice or inclusion and diversity. The field work collected data on public and private practice and interviewed twenty-four lawyers, eighteen state judges, and ten federal court judges (women and men) in the both the capital and smaller cities of the state of Sdo Paulo.

Pay Differences Among the Highly Trained: Cohort Differences in the Sex Gap in Lawyers Earnings." Soc. Forces 84, no. 2 (2005): 853-72

2005

Using unique data from a survey of University of Michigan Law School graduates, we test various models of how sex differences in pay, labor supply and job settings should have evolved as women entered the elite male field of law. We compare the sex gap in earnings 15 years after graduation for two cohorts of lawyers and find that it has remained constant over time. In both cohorts, men earn 52 percent more than women, 17 percent more than women with similar characteristics, and 11 percent more than women with similar characteristics in the same job settings. Sex differences in hours worked have increased over time and explain more of the sex-based earnings gap, while sex differences in job settings and years spent in private practice have declined and explain less of the gap.

Statistical analysis of female education in income: study case for Brazilian states

2021

The current research is inserted in the quarrel of gender and income in the Brazilian reality. The main objective of this work was to have a previous scenario of how factors such: marital status, age, and education affect the income of both genders (masculine and feminine) in each Brazilian State (UF). Expanding the comprehension of the gender subject within the context of inequalities among regions can be understood as a second goal. In order to achieve the targets proposed, this article used data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) of 2010 and multiple linear regressions. Followed by its statistical validations and discussions about the limitations of the model. For the year studied the gender inequality between education, income, and age was verified. The results are in agreement the previous quarrel within the same area and highlighted the impact of marital state in inequality.

Is there a gender pay gap in the Brazilian judiciary?

Revista de administração pública, 2022

This study tests the hypothesis that there is a clear difference between the average salaries perceived by male judges and female judges in eight Brazilian courts of justice. Using propensity score matching, judges were paired according to position, length of service as a judge, and court. The differences in average salaries persist even after the matching, although to a lesser degree, which can be explained by gender mediators that operate by generating better opportunities for men than for women.

Analysis and proposals of Catalonian women lawyers to promote gender equality in the legal sector

Analysis and proposals of Catalonian women lawyers to promote gender equality in the legal sector, 2022

The report explains the main factors that motivated this research: (1) Creating a more inclusive profession that benefits new generations; (2) Making visible the differences in treatment between men and women in the practice of the profession; (3) Evidencing that gender inequality in the legal sector exists and represents a problem for the profession; (4) The negative impact of the lack of work-life balance; (5) The imbalance of the value system within the profession; and (6) Lack of sisterhood and exchanges among women lawyers and the legal sector in general. The report explores three aspects identified as obstacles to gender equality in the profession in Catalonia: bias (conscious and unconscious); the lack of flexible working; and the pay gap. Among the most common proposals are the need to give women lawyers a voice and create forums for them to talk about themselves and their experiences, their needs and projects as professional women, as to improve their situation in their professional practice. It also highlights the need to implement advocacy or mediation mechanisms, propose good practices, and promote the monitoring of real equality in the legal sector. The need to promote coaching, mentoring, and other forms of intergenerational support among women lawyers were also cited. Special emphasis was placed on promoting women's association, and the participation and mobilisation of women lawyers as a model of women's empowerment. Finally, it is essential to include men in the equality debate, and to involve them in changing the social model.

LEGAL EDUCATION ABROAD: COLOMBIAN LEGAL GRADUATES AND THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF LL.M. DEGREES

Novum Jus , 2022

This paper analyzes the social effects of U.S. Master of Laws degrees (LL.M.) in the Colombian juridical field. Therefore, this paper asks: what are the selection requirements of U.S. LL.M. programs?How do selection requirements reproduce social hierarchies in a country such as Colombia? To address these questions, this paper first describes the admission criteria of LL.M. programs in U.S. universities by relying on qualitative data such as the universities’ description of their selection mechanisms and the costs of admissions. Then, using primary and secondary quantitative and qualitative data, the paper describes how selection criteria reproduce the Colombian legal field’s social hierarchies. The article focuses on four selection requirements: the English proficiency requirement, grades, C/V, letters of recommendation, and the recognition of the degree. Finally, the paper concludes that current selection mechanisms reproduce social hierarchies in Colombia’s legal profession.