Why Legal Education Is Failing Women

In this Article, Ms. Bashi and Ms. Iskander report and analyze the results of a comprehensive study of the way Yale Law School educates female and male students. This research is distinctive for its attention to faculty observations and its robust use of quantitative and qualitative data to map women's experiences throughout law school. The authors use in-depth interviews with faculty members, narrative and quantitative responses from a student survey, and class participation data to show that, despite similar entering credentials, female students at Yale Law School are underrepresented among participants in class discussions and among students who form professionally beneficial relationships with faculty members. The authors broaden the study beyond Yale to argue that (primarily male) law professors treat women differently from men and reward behaviors that are more likely to be displayed by men.

The Article concludes with a series of recommendations and argues that, if law schools reconsider what values they cultivate and reward, they will provide a better education for women and men alike.