Raising the Bar: Increasing and Sustaining Diversity within the Hennepin County Legal Community
Professional paper for the fulfillment of the Master of Public Affairs, Master of Public Policy, and Master of Urban and Regional Planning.
Diversity Is What You Want It to Be
We propose that diversity is a malleable concept capable of being used either to attenuate or to enhance racial inequality. The research reported here suggests that when people are exposed to ambiguous information concerning an organization’s diversity, they construe diversity in a manner consistent with their social-dominance motives. Specifically, anti-egalitarian individuals broaden their construal of diversity to include nonracial (i.e., occupational) heterogeneity when an organization’s racial heterogeneity is low. By contrast, egalitarian individuals broaden their construal of diversity to include nonracial heterogeneity when an organization’s racial heterogeneity is high. The inclusion of occupational heterogeneity in perceptions of diversity allows people across the spectrum of social-dominance orientation to justify their support for or opposition to hierarchy-attenuating affirmative-action policies. Our findings suggest that diversity may not have a fixed meaning and that, without a specific delineation of what the concept means in particular contexts, people may construe diversity in a manner consistent with their social motivations.
Gender on Trial: Sexual Stereotypes and Work/Life Balance in the Legal Workplace
Holly English's book, Gender on Trial: Sexual Stereotypes and Work/Life Balance in the Legal Workplace offers a very interesting, albeit mostly anecdotal, look at the many real or perceived sexual stereotypes in the legal workplace.' Her book is the result of interviews with 180 lawyers (fifty of them men) over a two-year period in all regions of the country.2 Her main purpose of the book was to "explore the fact that persistent gender stereotypes present a continuing obstacle that obstructs the availability of broad opinions and choices for men and women lawyers."3 Through eight substantive chapters, she seeks to explore a variety of stereotypes present in the legal workplace, from stereotypes that question women's competency, to sex (literally) in the workplace, and finally, the ever-present work/life balance that affects all attorneys but plagues working mothers most. While some of the issues are unique to the legal workplace, many other industries would find value in the information contained in English's book. Much of the book is anecdotal and