In my last column I — in my uninformed privileged white heterosexual male way — tackled the issue of race. This week I figured, why not continue to write what I (don’t) know and with a minimal level of perspective discuss misogyny and its function within law firms? To further compound the privilege with which I approach the subject, I will not discuss its effects on women within those spaces, I will discuss instead about how misogyny effects younger men.
Now, I’m not talking grotesque Donald J. Trump “boasting about sexual assault in a creepily awkward way” misogyny, rather I’m talking about the more subtle form exercised through the setting of expectations. Again, to emphasize, there are certainly far more pernicious, explicit and substantial examples of how the embedded misogyny in the psyches and praxis of older white dudes effects women who practice in these law firms. This column is not about those.
For the first several years I practiced law, I worked at a firm that was relatively large by small town standards. I was one of about 20 attorneys. A disproportionately high number of those attorneys were white males who are around the same age as the cheeto-faced blob of sexism and grotesqueness Trump. A consistent refrain of these older white dudes[1] was that we the “younger generations” did not work as hard as them, did not commit ourselves more directly to the firm, and allowed other interests to reduce our overall benefit to the firm. I often ask myself whether this is true. And, to some extent, I think it is. But I don’t think it is the result of what they concluded. It is not demonstrative that our generation lacks a strong work-ethic.[2] It does not demonstrate a lack of ambition. It does not show that we care less about our profession. I think it speaks, instead, to a meaningful and beneficial cultural shift through which there is an enhanced role for men in their contributions to domestic[3] responsibility. From my observation, these old white dudes seem to accept that women will practice law. Their expectations of women, however, often accommodate the notion that these women, per their domestic responsibilities, will never work as hard as they did. When it comes to younger men, however, the expectation that we will work as hard as they did when they were younger continues unabated and fails to account to changes in our society.
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My wife expects that I will contribute to cleaning, cooking and other domestic responsibilities. She should. Most married women with children anticipate that their husbands will meaningfully be involved in caring for those children. They should. Most of these older white dudes did not do this when they were young. They worked. Their wives carried an abnormal burden when it came to domestic responsibilities and child care. Their evaluation and judgment of younger men fails to account for a reality. The opportunity cost of a more just and equitable distribution of domestic responsibilities is that men work and function differently in law firms than before. And we should accept that cost. Our firms should accept that cost.
[1] I speak of them generally, but even within this subgroup there were exceptions.
[2] I will hover here like any member of the outskirts of Generation X, however, to indicate that I think there may be space for a discussion of a meaningful distinction between our work-ethic and that of the Millennials. I will pick this up in a future column.
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[3] I am italicizing “domestic” because I think it is highly problematic term here, but given that it is what these old white dudes think, I lack a comparable word to use.
Atticus T. Lynch, Esq. is an attorney in Any Town, Any State, U.S.A. He did not attend a top ten law school. He’s a litigator who’d like to focus on Employment and Municipal Litigation, but the vicissitudes of business cause him to “focus” on anything that comes in the door. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter