Thursday, June 25, 2009
State of the Profession Survey: Retention and Advancement of Women in IP Law
We've all seen studies about the retention and advancement of female lawyers but have you ever wondered whether those statistics apply to female IP lawyers? The sciences tend to be male dominated but does that have an impact on women in IP law? The committee wanted to find out so we formed a subcommittee that is working on putting together a survey for female IP lawyers. The goal of the survey is to find out what factors influence a woman's decision to stay involved in the practice of law, what factors determine whether a woman stays with a firm or goes in-house, what factors determine whether a woman advances in the profession? If you have ideas for specific survey questions or topics, please post them here. As soon as the survey is completed it will be sent to all committee members and will also be posted on this site.
2010 Women in IP Law Dinners
The 2009 dinners were held in 26 cities and we are hoping to reach 30 cities this year. In August 2009 we will be reaching out to last year's sponsors and those firms who indicated an interest in hosting in 2010. If you want to be added to the list of potential sponsors, please e-mail the Women in IP Law Dinners subcommittee and we will make sure to be in touch with you. Make sure to follow this blog for posts on sponsor sign-ups, available cities, and save-the-dates.
Book Club- The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much? by Leslie Bennetts.
Welcome to the inaugural post for the Women in IP Committee's blog. This is a forum for sharing information and engaging in dialogue. You are free to identify yourself in your comments or to post anonymously but please remember to be respectful of all commenters. Below are the discussion notes. Please share your comments and experiences.
Ch. I. Back to the Future: “It’s a 1950s Life!” Chapter One details the life of Margaret Hein- a seemingly contented stay at home wife, who has been at home ever since her first child was born. Many women struggle with returning to work and leaving an infant at home. There has been an increase in the number of women staying at home, and returning to the 1950s lifestyle. A downside to this mentality is that women are losing their financial security, while the children and/or family do not see any real benefits. The media often fuels the perception that staying at home is the ideal situation for a woman. Reportedly, seven out of ten women polled said they would stay at home with their children if they could. However, it appears that many women stop working even before they have children. Many American women believe that depending on a husband for financial support is a viable option, despite the fact that divorce is a good possibility. Many women incorrectly presume they can resurrect their careers easily when their children are older. Ironically, society does not support low income mothers staying at home. It is only the privileged where full-time motherhood is promoted and expected. Typically, it is presumed that a woman will give up her career over her husband’s, even if the husband is only making a fraction of what the woman earns.
II. Opting Out “It’s Like the Slaughter of the Lambs” “The Opt-Out Revolution” is a recent phenomena where highly educated women are choosing to opt-out of careers once they are married, sometimes even before having children. In 2005, a survey reported that 60 percent of young women interviewed for a study of Yale University students were planning to cut back on work or stop entirely once they had children. There are no similar stories about men; “we don’t ask men to choose or even to agonize over it.” There is a false message going out to young women that you can’t have both a family and a career. We program our girls early on to be interested in boyfriends and cliques, while we provide our boys with access to science fiction and fantasy books. The boys are groomed very early on to be achievers. There’s also a double standard in parenting. A woman is sometimes judged not to be a good mother if she doesn’t stay at home with her children. The same feeling does not pertain to men. The social system makes mothers feel inadequate. There is on ongoing tension between “working” moms and “stay at home” moms. Stay at home moms often portray their decision to stay home as purely for the sake of the children. However, when you go deeper into why they left their careers, many stay at home mothers admit that they were bored or unhappy with their jobs prior to quitting their jobs. Some women do decide to stay at home as a last resort. For instance, they asked for part-time and did not get it. They were stigmatized and marginalized in their career track. In some careers, the idea of working less than 50 to 60 hour work weeks was not within the realm of possibilities. Women are participating in creating this culture. If you hate your job, the workplace is family unfriendly, you want another child, and your husband won’t share the workload, you begin convincing yourself that quitting might be a viable option. Instead, women should ask “How can I get my husband to share more of the workload?”
III. But What If… “I Never Thought About That” Some stay at home mothers feel a sense of not being a person. Working women are perceived as having more to say. While the working women who have little children are struggling, if they quit, they have a harder time re-entering the workforce at the level they left. Also, many women become divorced with no direction or forethought as to how to support themselves and their children. Many stay at home moms don’t even consider that possibility. Statistically, women need to consider the fact that more women are single and living without a husband, than are married. In 2005, nearly 60 million women were single and living without a husband compared with 57.5 million living with a spouse. Discussion Questions. 1. How would giving up your income affect your family’s lifestyle? How would it affect you? 2. Have you ever thought about giving up your career to stay at home? Why did you decide not to stay at home? 3. How would giving up your career affect your economic dependency? 4. Have you experienced the “Opt-Out” revolution? What has been your experience with women who have opted to stay at home? Have you felt judged by stay at home moms? 5. Have you experienced the double standard in the way we raise our children? How can we raise our girls to be more interested in intellectual and career endeavors as we do for our boys? 6. Does your husband share the household work load? How can you get your husband to share more of the home responsibility?
Ch. I. Back to the Future: “It’s a 1950s Life!” Chapter One details the life of Margaret Hein- a seemingly contented stay at home wife, who has been at home ever since her first child was born. Many women struggle with returning to work and leaving an infant at home. There has been an increase in the number of women staying at home, and returning to the 1950s lifestyle. A downside to this mentality is that women are losing their financial security, while the children and/or family do not see any real benefits. The media often fuels the perception that staying at home is the ideal situation for a woman. Reportedly, seven out of ten women polled said they would stay at home with their children if they could. However, it appears that many women stop working even before they have children. Many American women believe that depending on a husband for financial support is a viable option, despite the fact that divorce is a good possibility. Many women incorrectly presume they can resurrect their careers easily when their children are older. Ironically, society does not support low income mothers staying at home. It is only the privileged where full-time motherhood is promoted and expected. Typically, it is presumed that a woman will give up her career over her husband’s, even if the husband is only making a fraction of what the woman earns.
II. Opting Out “It’s Like the Slaughter of the Lambs” “The Opt-Out Revolution” is a recent phenomena where highly educated women are choosing to opt-out of careers once they are married, sometimes even before having children. In 2005, a survey reported that 60 percent of young women interviewed for a study of Yale University students were planning to cut back on work or stop entirely once they had children. There are no similar stories about men; “we don’t ask men to choose or even to agonize over it.” There is a false message going out to young women that you can’t have both a family and a career. We program our girls early on to be interested in boyfriends and cliques, while we provide our boys with access to science fiction and fantasy books. The boys are groomed very early on to be achievers. There’s also a double standard in parenting. A woman is sometimes judged not to be a good mother if she doesn’t stay at home with her children. The same feeling does not pertain to men. The social system makes mothers feel inadequate. There is on ongoing tension between “working” moms and “stay at home” moms. Stay at home moms often portray their decision to stay home as purely for the sake of the children. However, when you go deeper into why they left their careers, many stay at home mothers admit that they were bored or unhappy with their jobs prior to quitting their jobs. Some women do decide to stay at home as a last resort. For instance, they asked for part-time and did not get it. They were stigmatized and marginalized in their career track. In some careers, the idea of working less than 50 to 60 hour work weeks was not within the realm of possibilities. Women are participating in creating this culture. If you hate your job, the workplace is family unfriendly, you want another child, and your husband won’t share the workload, you begin convincing yourself that quitting might be a viable option. Instead, women should ask “How can I get my husband to share more of the workload?”
III. But What If… “I Never Thought About That” Some stay at home mothers feel a sense of not being a person. Working women are perceived as having more to say. While the working women who have little children are struggling, if they quit, they have a harder time re-entering the workforce at the level they left. Also, many women become divorced with no direction or forethought as to how to support themselves and their children. Many stay at home moms don’t even consider that possibility. Statistically, women need to consider the fact that more women are single and living without a husband, than are married. In 2005, nearly 60 million women were single and living without a husband compared with 57.5 million living with a spouse. Discussion Questions. 1. How would giving up your income affect your family’s lifestyle? How would it affect you? 2. Have you ever thought about giving up your career to stay at home? Why did you decide not to stay at home? 3. How would giving up your career affect your economic dependency? 4. Have you experienced the “Opt-Out” revolution? What has been your experience with women who have opted to stay at home? Have you felt judged by stay at home moms? 5. Have you experienced the double standard in the way we raise our children? How can we raise our girls to be more interested in intellectual and career endeavors as we do for our boys? 6. Does your husband share the household work load? How can you get your husband to share more of the home responsibility?
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