Tag Archive for: gender equality

Congratulations to the Alliance Member Firms Named Best Law Firms For Women

Congratulations to all the law firms named to Working Mother Media’s 2020 Best Law Firms for Women List.  These firms are being recognized for their “efforts and successes in finding, retaining and promoting women lawyers” and we commend their commitment to gender parity.

The Best Law Firms for Women List has been published for the last thirteen years.  Law firms are asked to complete an application including more than 300 questions about attorney demographics at different levels, schedule flexibility, paid time off and parental leaves, and development and retention of women.

We are particularly proud to congratulate the following Diversity & Flexibility Alliance members named to the 2020 List:

  1. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
  2. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
  3. Cooley
  4. Crowell & Moring
  5. Davis Wright Tremaine
  6. Dechert
  7. DLA Piper
  8. Dorsey & Whitney
  9. Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
  10. Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner
  11. Fish & Richardson
  12. Jackson Lewis P.C.
  13. Katten
  14. Latham & Watkins
  15. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
  16. Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart
  17. O’Melveny & Myers
  18. Perkins Coie
  19. Quarles & Brady
  20. Reed Smith
  21. Seyfarth Shaw
  22. Sidley Austin
  23. Wiley

Action Step – Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility.  Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.

 

Recent surveys show that men perceive greater progress towards gender equality than women do:

– More men (63%) than women (49%) think their organizations are making progress on gender diversity.[i]

– More women (83%) than men (76%) see gender diversity as moderately or very important.[ii]

– When asked about discrimination against women in the tech industry, 29% of men and 44% of women say it is a major problem.[iii]

This presents both an insight and a challenge for initiatives to advance women. For the insight: it explains in part why women’s advancement is so slow. For change to occur, there has to be a sense of necessity and urgency to overcome inertia. If men see no particular need to prioritize women’s progress in their organizations, they will be more prone to sit on the sidelines while others work to advance women. Even worse, organizational leadership may believe their organizations have done enough to ensure gender parity and actively resist initiatives to advance women.

Which brings us to the challenge: how can change advocates use this information to advocate for the advancement of women? The key foundational step is to address the disconnect through evidence and encouraging reflection. Here are some suggestions…

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