Reproducing Gender on Law School Faculties

This Article demonstrates that there is a gender divide on law school faculties. Women work in inferior sex-segregated jobs and teach a disproportionate percentage of female-identified courses; more than eighty percent of law school deans are men. Men teach the more prestigious male-identified courses. Women suffer from differential expectations from colleagues and students and often bear the brunt of their colleagues' bullying behaviors at work. Using masculinities studies and other social science research to identify gendered structures, practices, and behaviors that harm women law professors, this Article provides a theoretical framework to explain why women in the legal academy do not enjoy status equal to that of their male colleagues. Many of these practices appear to be gender-neutral, but tacitly perpetuate stereotypes and segregation that is harmful to women. This Article makes visible the gendered nature of these structures and practices and challenges the notion of natural difference or "choice" as a cause of the disparity between men and women law professors. It concludes that only by making these gendered practices visible will women attain equal status on law school faculties. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION: THE REPRODUCTION OF GENDER IN LAW SCHOOLS 101 II. MASCULINITIES THEORY AND OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH ON GENDER 107 A. Gender and Masculinities Theory 107 B. Social Role Theory, Organizations, and Leadership Studies 109 C. Bullying and Gender 112 D . Applying Social Science Research to Law Schools ....... 115 III. GENDERED STRUCTURES, PRACTICES, AND EXPECTATIONS. 116 A. Gender in Law School Hiring and Initial Rank 116 B. Gendered Terms and Conditions of Law School Employment 118 1. Gendered structures: the tenure track 118 2. Gender segregation: gendered jobs, gendered workers 123 3. Gender characteristics of male and female jobs ...... 124 a. Gender identity of jobs 124 b. Expectations of men and women occupying jobs that are not "gender- appropriate" 126 c. Gendering of law faculty jobs 128 d. A case study of gendering jobs: legal writing ... 128 4. Gendered course assignments 136 5. Students' gendered expectations of faculty 139 6. Practicing masculinities in law school organizations 141 a. Masculinities in corporate America 141 b. Adapting masculinities studies to law schools... 144 7. Feminization and degradation of internal work ..... 150 IV. CONCLUSION: DEGENDERING LAW SCHOOL FACULTIES ..... 153 I. INTRODUCTION: THE REPRODUCTION OF GENDER IN LAW SCHOOLS Scholars have published a number of articles examining the influence of gender in law schools.1 Only a few studies, however, deal with gender and the employment relationships of law school faculties. In their groundbreaking empirical study, Deborah Jones Merritt and Barbara Reskin found that women, particularly women of color, are at a distinct disadvantage in hiring and rank in the most prestigious schools in legal academy.2 In a comprehensive 2004 empirical study, Marjorie Kornhauser concluded that occupational segregation by gender is widespread in the legal academy and continues to grow as women enter the academy. …