Today is Women’s Equality Day.  First designated by Congress in 1971, to commemorate the certification by the Secretary of State of the 19th Amendment, the day is a symbol of the continued fight for equal rights.  Here’s some food for thought from New York.

Recently a NY Bar Association Study was released, “If Not Now, When?  Achieving Equality for Women Attorneys in the Courtroom and in ADR.”

Ret. Judge Shira A. Scheindlin, who worked on the study, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times (ctrl-click each image to read the article).

While her observation that judges are usually more diverse than the lawyers who appear before them doesn’t quite hold true here in the Bay Area, her advice prompted a white, male judge to issue a motion practice rule in his court (See New York Time Article on Senior Judge Jack B. Weinstein):

There are other aspects of the law with dismal gender disparity statistics (See New York Times Article on the Gender Divide in Partner Compensation):

Can we find creative ways to make progress toward achieving equality in these areas too?