All show that women lawyers are at a significant disadvantage compared with their male colleagues. This pattern also holds for career choices and decisions to leave the law entirely. Women who wish to balance career and family are seen to be at yet another disadvantage, especially for those who work in law firms, where the bottom line is billable hours. Both human capital and gender stratification theories offer potential explanations. Their data show a gender gap in earnings.
Men earn more per year because they bill more hours.
Men's time is more valuable to the firm. These findings do not fit four-square with human capital theory. Given our findings, a plausible answer is a high commitment of women to work in the profession, over and above the earnings it produces. Hagan and Kay then discuss why some lawyers of both genders are dissatisfied with their chosen profession, and why some simply leave the practice of law. Eighty women and forty-five men in the Toronto sample reported leaving law practice.