Persistence Despite Change: The Academic Gender Gap in Australian Law Schools

Prior research has shown that while women have entered the legal profession in increasing numbers, the profession continues to privilege the norms, beliefs, and cultural practices of men. However, one aspect of the legal profession that has largely been overlooked, especially in Australia, is legal...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Law & social inquiry 2022-05, Vol.47 (2), p.607-634
Main Authors: Melville, Angela, Barrow, Amy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic staff
Attorneys
Biographies
Colleges & universities
Feminization
Gender
Gender differences
Law
Law schools
Legal professions
Mobility
Patriarchy
Productivity
Professions
Qualifications
Schools
Sex discrimination
Women
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Prior research has shown that while women have entered the legal profession in increasing numbers, the profession continues to privilege the norms, beliefs, and cultural practices of men. However, one aspect of the legal profession that has largely been overlooked, especially in Australia, is legal academia. This oversight is significant as legal academia provides the gateway into the legal profession. Women now make up approximately half of universities’ academic staff, are increasingly completing doctorate qualifications, and are moving into senior positions within academia. On the surface, these changes may suggest that women are now fully integrated into academia and that the academic gender gap has now resolved. We argue, however, that numerical inclusion does not necessarily challenge the male normative structures that underlie legal academia. This article draws on analysis of the biographies of seven hundred legal academics in Australian law schools and investigates differences between male and female legal academics in terms of level of appointment, academic qualifications and professional experience, research productivity, research interests, and mobility. It shows that while the gender gap has closed in some areas, the feminization of legal academia is a myth and female academics continue to face gendered barriers.
ISSN:0897-6546
1747-4469
1545-696X
DOI:10.1017/lsi.2021.52