Blog #27: Competency Gap

Women have come a long way in closing the competency gap. There are still many way, however, that are linked to holding women back. One of the main issues that women have to battle is their dedication. Women have always been seen as the family care giver. Men have always been seen as the providers. This gender stereotype puts a negative stigma on women in the law field. If a woman wants to have a family, then they are categorized as not dedicated enough and they get ostracized from their colleagues. To avoid being ostracized women will hide a pregnancy or not talk about their families at work. Women lawyers have also expressed feelings that they have to work harder than the men to prove their competency and they always have to be more prepared then the men. Men are seen as competent just because they are men. Women are evaluated on a different standard as well. If a woman is too laid back and soft spoken then she is labeled as not being intelligent. If she goes the opposite direction and is overly aggressive then she is seen as a bully and people say she trying too hard. Women lawyers also have to deal with view that because they are women they are not capable of being leaders. Laureen Shaffer, formerly of General Electric, is a perfect example of this. She has worked for years to prove herself as competent and able. She is now suing the company for gender discrimination because GE promoted outside the company when she feels she deserved the position (NPR, 2007). Women lose networking resources due to the competency gap as well. Men tend to associate with other men and women with women. Seeing how law is a male dominated field it provides an unbalance for women. Men give clients and cases to other men that they go golfing with and get drinks with. Men use different strategies to win cases over women. Some of these strategies are to talk over a woman so she cannot get a word in. Other men try to make women look incompetent in the court room. I enjoy the stories that some of the women lawyers tell of being underestimated by their male counterparts and when the right time arises they strike and quiet the men.