Jo Freeman Reviews Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers: Lives in the Law by Jill Norgren
Jill Norgren: Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers: Lives in the Law
Published by New York University press, 2018, paper 2020
Pages: xvi + 287
By Jo Freeman
Every young woman who aspires to be a lawyer should read this book. They need to know how hard it was to get into the legal profession before the 21st Century.
This book is primarily based on one hundred oral histories of outstanding women lawyers commissioned by the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession. Impressed by Norgren's other books on women lawyers, two members of the Commission offered to make the transcripts available if she would write another book. This is the result.
In nine chapters Norgren explores childhood influences, law school experiences, and the various types of practice that these women engaged in. The latter include private law firms, public interest law and government. Just getting admitted to law school required outstanding achievement. Until 1972, most law schools had quotas on women -- usually about 7 percent -- if they admitted any at all. Law professors told them that they were taking a man's place.
In two "intermissions." Norgren talks about clothes and family/work balance. Clothes might seem a trivial concern today, but it wasn't way back then. Male lawyers wore a uniform; women lawyers were always subject to criticism for what they wore. Family/work balance was never a trivial concern.
The women in this book were born between 1916 and 1951. The early ones were pioneers, breaking into a profession which was quite hostile to women. The later ones benefitted not only by the precedents of their predecessors, but by the women's liberation movement which flourished in the 1970s. It lowered many barriers, including the quotas on women in law schools.
Another place the movement made a major difference was in the selection of judges. Norgren has an entire chapter on the judiciary. For federal judges, President Jimmy Carter was the turning point. He became "very conscious of the political clout of the …. women's movement" at the 1976 Democratic Convention.
Keep in mind that these are success stories. While there is much discussion of barriers and put-downs, these are the women who broke through to have serious careers. All is not equal. In an Epilogue Norgren describes why "substantial progress is still needed." The law remains a male profession. Culture change is hard and doesn't happen in a single generation, or even two or three. The women in this book opened many doors. Their daughters and granddaughters will have to open more.
Copyright © 2021 by Jo Freeman for SeniorWomen.com
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