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1 Women's Bar Association Initiative Documents, Friday, January 6, 2006 [1] (2006)

handle is hein.peggy/wbaitvd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Demographics, Trends and Perceptions of Their Cause Brande Stellings, Catalyst Initiative on the Advancement and Retention of Women Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia January 6, 2006 Catalyst is a New York organization whose mission is to work with businesses and the professions to build inclusive environments and expand opportunities for women at work. Using Catalyst's research and other studies, Brande Stellings outlined the divergence between career paths for men and women attorneys. A number of myths are often used to explain that divergence, including the myths that women have not been in the pipeline long enough to rise to the senior ranks of the profession, that women are less ambitious than men, and that work-life balance is a women's issue adversely affecting their careers. The data available to Catalyst calls these myths into question and shows that most women leave law firms because of dissatisfaction with their advancement opportunities. With effort and analytical rigor, law firms can identify and improve the workplace factors that are causing women to leave. One particular challenge, however, is that most of the top barriers to women's advancement that are identified by women are not perceived as such by men. A. Introduction to Catalyst's Work 1. Catalyst has 40 years of experience working with companies and firms to make changes for women through ground-breaking research, advisory services, and an annual award for innovative initiatives to advance women into leadership (given for the second time last year to a law firm). 2. Catalyst's 2001 Women in Law Study looked at experiences of women and men and asked why there was a lack of advancement of women in the legal profession. The study was based on over 1,400 responses from men and women graduates from five of the top law schools. Catalyst has also conducted research on the Canadian experience, which offers perspectives about flexibility and work-life balance issues. Catalyst's current research project focuses on issues of women of color professionals and is due for release in Spring 2006. B. Demographic Framework: Divergence in Career Paths 1. Women are almost 30% of practicing attorneys. 2. About 70% of new women and men attorneys start out in private practice. Over time, however, a divergence in career paths appears, as women leave private practice earlier than men. Even only a few years out of law school, there is almost a 10% difference in where men and women attorneys are practicing: 64% of women from the Class of 2000 are in private practice as compared to 73% of men. The differences are even more pronounced for older classes: for law school classes from 1970 to 1999, 40% of women versus 50% of men are in private practice.

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