Comments on: Constitutional Law as Computer Science

By: pat

pat — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:32:56 +0000

Patent law is predominantly male.

By: pat

pat — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:32:45 +0000

Patent law is predominantly male.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:10:46 +0000

I’m a Computer Engineering graduate and I can say that the population between boys and girls in our University having this kind of course is just equal.

By: Ricey

Ricey — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:18:47 +0000

In my current advanced con law class taught by a very prominent professor, there are about 40 men and 15 women. I am the only colored person and one of the 15 women. All those men look like they are future Supreme court law clerks. I’m not really surprised why con law is such a male-dominated field, but it is a challenge for many female law students like me.

By: Sean M.

Sean M. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:05:01 +0000

This is off topic, but I wanted to mention I enjoyed your presentation at the W&M IP symposium this weekend. You took a drubbing in Q & A with grace and style, and your idea is provocative to say the least.

By: John Steele

John Steele — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:40:15 +0000

Here’s some data on point. Some questions raised by the data are whether the disproportionate teaching results in disproportionate enrollment and whether any disproportionate enrollment affects career placement. As you’ll see, it appears that the topics where women and professors of color are more highly represented are by and large not the topics that dominate large firm practice.

http://www.aals.org/diversity/teitelba.html

By: Jacqui L.

Jacqui L. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:48:54 +0000

It’s not exactly on point, but Minna Kotkin at Brooklyn Law School has an interesting draft paper on gender disparities in publishing in top law journals. See http://works.bepress.com/minna_kotkin/20/ My recollection is that she also touches on fields of law that women and men may write in, but it’s been a while since I read it.

By: anon

anon — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:34:22 +0000

Legal writing is blatantly gendered.

By: anon

anon — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:48:27 +0000

All the tax professors at my law school are girls.

By: Alfred

Alfred — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:32:21 +0000

Thanks, Sarah L., for the citations to Kornhauser and Merritt and Reskin. Both are really interesting papers.

I’d add legal history to the areas that are suffering gender disparity. And in addition to the issues of gender-equity that may partially motivate Kornhauser and Merritt and Reskin, I’d add that the gender imbalance likely distorts the subjects that are studied by legal historians.

By: Sarah L.

Sarah L. — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:15:49 +0000

The question of whether there is a gender gap in law school staffing is analyzed in Marjorie E. Kornhauser, Rooms of Their Own: An Empirical Study of Occupational Segregation by Gender Among Law Professors, 73 UMKC L. Rev. 293 (2004). The article empirically examines the staffing of law school courses over thirteen years and concludes that gender disparities (e.g., more men teaching con law) are "widespread and growing." (The question of the relative prominence of scholars in a given field is of course a separate question.) Kornhauser builds on earlier work, in particular Deborah Jones Merritt and Barbara F. Reskin, Sex, Race and Credentials: The Truth About Affirmative Action in Law Faculty Hiring, 97 Colum. L. Rev. 199 (1997).

By: Liz Glazer

Liz Glazer — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:39:00 +0000

Hi Jason!

Hope you’re doing well. I saw Ann McGinley at UNLV deliver a really interesting presentation at this year’s Employment & Labor Law Colloquium in San Diego about the gendering of subject matters in law schools. She offered examples (based on empirical research) of “boy” courses (e.g., tax, constitutional law) and “girl” courses (e.g., employment discrimination, trusts & estates). Seems like a helpful contribution to this conversation.

Liz