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If you are looking to never worry about a 40-year tax (rough estimate of how long women menstruate), then look no further than Scotland.
In 1999, a presidential proclamation declared June as Pride Month to recognize the struggles and achievements of the LGBTQ+ community in the fight for equality and inclusion. Using Pride Month to look closer at the history of the LGBTQ+ legal community, we learn that the late United States District Judge Deborah A. Batts was the first openly gay Article III federal judge in the nation.
From the pristine splendor of a well-engineered and maintained golf course to the hallowed and noble courtroom, one is filled with a sense of awe and privilege to partake in the game or the practice of law.
One is inspired to rise beyond one’s self-imposed limitations to honor these traditions.
In recent years we have heard “DEI”, “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion”, “allyship” “ally” etc., by a growing number of organizations including courts and law firms. And while we have seen this growing awareness, progress continues to be slow both for women and people of color, and at times just lip service.
Best practices geared towards standardizing processes are more likely to be in place in evaluating candidates at the hiring stage, but these need to be expanded and entrenched later in the career cycle, when considering attorneys for assignments and promotions.
Among the many lessons we all have learned during the pandemic, we have learned the real meaning of cabin fever. We have learned that having our freedom of movement restrained even for our own health and safety was difficult and unimaginable long-term. This unimaginable truth despite the fact that we had access to the comforts and niceties in our own homes. We certainly were not incarcerated in our own homes like Yuri Kochiyama was during Japanese internment in the United States.
Do I want kids? Yes. Should I have kids? I am still not sure. I have been struggling with this question for several years, and it is not just me—more women are either delaying having children or deciding not to have children at all. A 2016 study shows that the average age of first-time mothers in big cities and on the coast has increased; in San Francisco, the average age of first-time mothers is about 32 years old. There are many ways to raise children; there is no one right way. These are just some considerations that I know are important to me in deciding whether or not to have children.
As we celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage this month, let’s remember to celebrate our own AAPI members, who have paved the path by shattering glass ceilings.
“[W]omen are leaving law firms at what should be the height of their careers,” and “[T]he gender breakdown of summer associates and associates is almost equal, but then changes dramatically at the partner level.” These extraordinary statements in Ian Pisarcik’s “Women Outnumber Men in Law School Classrooms for The Third Year in a Row, but Statistics Don’t Tell the Full Story” invited me on a journey behind the fabled wizard’s curtain. What might be the micro-variables that are contributing to this now well-documented phenomenon?
As we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander history this month, let’s celebrate the first female Asian American who became a lawyer in the United States in June of 1937: Elizabeth Kuma Ohi. A Japanese American and Chicago native, Ohi was born on February 9, 1911. She graduated valedictorian from Pullman Free School of Manual Training and attended local universities in Chicago. She earned her law degree from John Marshall Law School, where she graduated first out of a class of 41 students.
