Gendered
Career Paths in Law:
Recent Evidence from a Survey of Urban Lawyers
Kathleen
Hull and Robert L. Nelson
Abstract
In this paper, we use data from a random-sample survey of urban
lawyers (the Chicago Lawyers II Study) to examine gender difference
in first job after law school as well as in current position in
the legal profession. Our analysis tests competing theories of gender
segregation within the law, which can be grouped into two main categories.
Choice-based theories - including human capital theory and sex-role
socialization theory - emphasize women's active and voluntary choice
of some occupational settings over others. Theories of institutional
constraint, by contrast, view gender segregation as the product
of structural obstacles confronting women in male-dominated fields.
We find that gender is a significant predictor of both first position
and current position in law, even after controlling for other relevant
variables such as law school background, racial/ethnic identity,
soci oeconomic background, experience, family status, and leaves
of absence.
We find that women are significantly more likely to start their
careers in government, public interest work, and legal education.
Gender is also a significant predictor of current position in law,
even after controlling for first position, which is also highly
significant, and other relevant variables. Women are significantly
less likely to be working in private practice (solo or firm) and
significantly more likely to be employed in government, public interest
law, legal education, internal counsel, or nonlegal positions. These
findings suggest that where one starts out in law matters a great
deal for later career trajectory, but gender differences in first
jobs after law school do not fully explain the persistence of gender
segregation at later career stages. The patterns appear to be a
product of 1) women's ongoing efforts to balance the competing demands
of work and family over the course of their careers, 2) persistent
effects of sex-role socialization across career trajectories, and
3) various obstacles that push women away from some work settings
and toward others. Future analyses will attempt to elaborate on
these explanations.
Kathleen Hull,
School of Law, Northwestern University and American Bar Foundation;
Robert L. Nelson, Department
of Sociology, Northwestern University
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