UNIT D - Blog 39

There are organization initiatives that need to occur before work/life balance can be obtained and equity among men and women is gained in the legal profession. These organization initiatives that should happen are providing a workplace that values it's employees and promoting and showing examples of equity. Employees need to come into the workplace being treated equally and fairly because this is most important. Nobody should feel shunned or shut out because they have a home life or have children to take care of. Also, the workplace needs to provide proper training and mentoring for their employees so everyone can have the same learning tools available to them so they can grow within the company. When people have to work part time schedules in order to take care of their families they feel they lose out on alot from being away from the office more than others, therefore if they are provided training and mentoring they might feel less out of the loop and might feel a little more appreciated by the company. Also, if these employees are offered mentoring and such then maybe the other employees wont talk down to them and will feel like they really are a good asset to the company and are worthy employees. I also think that fellow employees and higher management or staff need to learn about flexible schedules and how this will help the company instead of bringing it down and making it lose money. I don't think firms and such are educated on this and they choose to see the negative instead of the positive. I also think communication is key because without it everyone is left in the dark so to speak. Employees need to express their concerns and management needs to express their concerns as well so everyone can be on the same page and understand what is needed on both sides in order to make the company a whole and succeed as necessary.

UNIT D - Blog 38

From the women of judiciary section I chose to talk about Jane M. Bolin. This woman was the first black woman who was a judge in the United States. I think she broke down a huge wall in history because she was not only a woman but also a minority and she was able to take on a leadership role which was judge. This all happened in 1937 which back then women weren't really treated with much respect and neither were minorities. She had to overcome so many obstacles and criticisms by being where she was at that time but she served for over 40 years and the fact that she served for so long was amazing.

From the women in practice of law I chose to talk about Dorothy Frooks. This woman was a lawyer and judge in the U.S. army during World War II and she was the army's first full time lawyer. She was able to do many things which made her versatile and she was able to open up free legal clinics in the city and lobbied to set up small claims courts. Jane discovered alot during her time and definitely was appreciated since she accomplished so much. She fought for a sixteen year old girl who had killed a man because he had raped her at the age of twelve, Jane was able to suspend a sentence for this young woman. I think Jane's accomplishments showed that women were capable of doing things on their own and she set high standards for women during this time.

UNIT D - Blog 37

When comparing English's findings and the findings in the report I noticed that in the report it talked about women being too aggressive, having too much attitude and ill equipped to do business. In English's findings in Gender on Trial she talked about how people saw women as being sympathetic and kind and clients were more likely to trust their lawyers more when they felt a positive attitude come from the lawyer. She talked about how women gain long term relationships with clients because of their great attitudes and sympathetic natures so this obviously has a great advantage on females when they show their nurturing side. The report made it seem like women are mean angry females who aren't worth anything to companies and can't produce anything that will help the company move forward. A contrast that was in the report and English's findings was on the work/life balance program. The report talked about women being afraid to take on part time schedules in fear of losing their job or being seen as incapable of being a successful lawyer. "Gender on Trial" talked about work/life balance programs and how this can put huge pressure on females because they have a home life they need to take care of but when they come back from maternity leave or work part time schedules they are seen as less serious and not good lawyers because they can't stay longer hours and do more work like the other lawyers are able to do. These women fear they might be let go because they aren't seen as useful for the law firm.

UNIT D - Blog 36

In the Talk of the Nation story, a question was presented which was "can corporate America lure the women back into the workplace?" I think women might be lured back into the workplace but only if certain things were to be changed within the workplace. The glass ceiling factor is still a problem even though it's gone down quite a bit but these women out there are experienced and good at what they do but yet they are still put on a lower pedestal than men. The really top jobs require an on call system which means the people who hold these top jobs are constantly busy and always have to be ready to travel and do whatever the company wants whenever they need you which means you need to make your job more important than your own personal life. Many woman aren't as willing to do this because they have families to take care of and they can't put their children on hold just so they can be on call when the need arises. It's hard to be utterly dedicated to a job when you have a home life, it's nice to make a nice paycheck and to hold high positions within the company but you can't put your life on hold so you can obsess over your job and be there at all hours of the day. This seems like a hostile environment and very unhealthy. I think women can be lured back into the workplace if the workplace becomes more lenient to their needs and doesn't just offer higher roles at work for people who have no life and are willing to shed blood and tears just to get the job done. Dedication is of course a plus but jobs need to understand that jobs shouldn't control a persons life and they definitely shouldn't be the only thing that matters to a person. Families to exist and children need their mothers and fathers and people shouldn't be judged or looked down upon just because they have a home life.

UNIT D - Blog 34

The work/life balance problem is that women often find it difficult to balance work life and family life. Women are under such scrutiny when they are needing to work part time schedules in order to take care of their family, many jobs don't want to give out part time schedules and would much rather fire the woman instead. Also, alot of companies might be hesitant to hire a mother because they see this as a financial loss for their company because it might be possible that the woman will have to take many sick days to take care of their child or if their child needs something they might have to leave work early or take the day off in order to tend to their child. Even if a woman applies for a job and is childless an employer might see her as a future threat if she were to ever decide to have a family. Women are faced with so many issues when they have to deal with family life and work life and it shouldn't have to be so hard but employers make it this way. Women are being discriminated against for being mothers and this is absolutely unfair. It's tough enough having to work a full time job in order to make ends meet and get bills paid but when you have to go home after working forty plus hours and have to attend to housework and taking care of kids, it starts to take a toll on you. These women need some sort of a break and need to be able to expect job security. In the New York Times article the woman left work for a while to have her premature child and was told over the phone not to worry because her job was stable and they understood her situation. But weeks later she found out that her job was given to someone else and she was left jobless with a premature child to provide for. I don't understand how companies can get away with this kind of discrimination against mothers, it is absurd. In "Gender on Trial" part time work is discussed and it talked about how women with part time schedules were given less responsibility and weren't seen as being serious lawyers because they weren't working the same long hours as some of the other lawyers out there. It's not fair that because a woman has to take a part time shift to accommodate her home life she is seen as a less worthy lawyer, this makes no sense to me at all. Chapter seven discusses work life balance and how this has been advancing in the legal field. Clients aren't worrying so much about full time or part time labels because they just want their work to get done and that's all that matters to them instead of a lawyers title. Companies also don't want to deal with any legal matters or law suits presented to them on work discrimination and they are also dealing with high turnover rates when they aren't offering more flexible schedules to their employees. This is a positive advancement because the more flexibility that is offered the more the employees will experience a positive work environment and will be much happier at work.

UNIT D - Blog 33

Woman have had some advances in the legal profession and at greater rates they have accomplished receiving promotions within their company and even made partners or made some other upper level management job. The fact that Sonia has made it on the Supreme Court shows that advancement is possible for women it's just coming forward at a much slower rate than it has for men but this has been apparent for many years now. I think women are starting to receive more respect in the workplace but much more progress is needed so that these women receive fair treatment within their profession. I think some obstacles these women face are discrimination such as lower pay because they are still getting paid much lower than men for doing the same type of work. Women are also starting to see promotions in their future but men are still the ones to receive promotions and raises at a much more frequent rate and I think this needs to be changed. Woman are still staying longer hours to get work done but have yet to see anything good come of it. Schedules are also alot of grief for females because when they are expecting mothers or mothers in general they may require time off or part time scheudles and this is seen as a big inconvenience for the company and many companies don't like to give out part time schedules because they see this as a financial burden and other employees start to complain about women having part time schedules because it puts more work on them instead.

UNIT D - Blog 30

Conventional views about leadership styles disadvantage women and advantage men because throughout history men have been president and men have held high roles in society and have been great leaders for our country. When people look back in history all they see are men holding leadership position and this poses a problem for women because when they want to run for a leadership role they might be looked at as a joke because nobody is used to having a woman hold a powerful role. All the stereotypes can bring women down and lower their self esteem, it also might prevent women from applying for leadership roles because they might feel they don't even have a chance when compared to a man. It was awesome that a woman was up against a man for this recent president election and I think it told all the women out there that if they try hard enough they can make it and they need to be brave and let all those stereotypes and negativity leave their minds so they can do what they want and be successful leaders for our country.

Gender expectations frame leadership behavior for men and women because if society already expects men and women to act a certain way then this might pressure both genders to take on the responsibility of acting the way society wants them to. Society is used to a man running the show, so to speak, and this might give a man a reason to feel like he's more powerful than a woman and should dominate the workplace. For example, most of the people on the Supreme Court are men and these men might have the idea that they are better than women and that being on the Supreme Court is a man's job and can only be done best when performed by a man. Society forms these stereotypes of men and women and it makes us sort of mold into that stereotypes because once a man decides he wants to be a ballerina he might decide against this even though it's his dream because society will look down upon him since it's more acceptable when a woman is a ballerina as opposed to a man. Women might also be a little nervous to apply for jobs that are male dominated because they feel they will be looked down upon or treated differently because of their gender.

Some positive outcomes of leadership qualities in women is they are finally seen as worthy enough to be in leadership roles. For so long women weren't allowed to vote or even run for jobs such as lawyers or judges and I think it's awesome that women are finally putting themselves out there and going against men so they can be seen as worthy opponents. I think some negative outcomes for women is that they tend to be more assertive and might come off as pushy or rude and I think women are just more confident and they feel they need to act this way so they aren't pushed around and stepped on by others. As for men I think positive outcomes of their leadership qualities are they have made it far in most industries and will always have the chance to take on leadership roles and mentor other people for the same position. I think some negative outcomes are that they can come off as jerks, especially when they are talking about women. All the men that judged Sonia for being on the Supreme Court constantly attacked her based on her background of growing up in the Bronx and also said that she was a bad lawyers and didn't know much about the industry. I think this just shows they are scared of a little competition from a woman.

The leadership style I prefer is someone who is assertive and to the point. I think it's nice to have someone who can incorporate emotion into their roles as well because we need to be able to realise they are people too and can related to us and our emotions. I like when people are assertive because they are showing they aren't push overs and are capable of getting the job done without being stepped all over. I wouldn't want a leader who is shy, laid back and timid because to me this shows signs of weakness and I don't want someone weak handling anything important that needs to get done.