Gender and the practice of law in Canada

One may ask why paralegals are shown to be the only profession in the criminal justice system that has an overrepresentation of women employees, while male legal professionals tend to be identified as attorneys – perhaps it is due to societal ideologies of male dominance. Male dominated industries and occupations, like law practice, have fewer women employees, women have a harder time excelling in their field, and are less likely to attain partnership promotion. Career expansion is difficult on women in the male-dominated field of law. Although women are completing law school at the same rate as men, higher numbers of women are leaving law (attrition) compared to men, losing their talent from the workforce, and contributing to continuing sexist attitudes. This study therefore aims to investigate the reasons why females are less likely to remain working as attorneys compared to males, despite there being approximately equal representation of males and females in law schools. This loss of women is not only important for tackling discrimination, which is an important goal for any industry, but also for reducing the loss of highly trained intelligent professionals in the law firms simply due to their gender, requiring further training of new staff. Furthermore, this research will not only confirm the high attrition of women, but will also inform the law firms on the reasons behind it, allowing counteractive measures to be developed that might increase retention of their female staff.