Law Schools

If You're Menstruating Or Lactating During The Bar Exam You're Screwed

It's like they never really expected women to become lawyers.

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This isn’t a new issue. Above the Law wrote about bar examinees not being allowed to take their own menstrual products into test centers back in 2013. But, unfortunately, in 2020 it is still an issue and goddamn it, it still makes us mad.

Amid all the cancellation and postponements of the July 2020 bar exam, let’s not forget that a shocking number — 23! — of states intend to go forward with an in-person bar exam next week pandemic be damned. And of course the whole, they’re-trying-to-kill-us thing is a big deal but there’s another controversy about the gender-based microaggressions (frankly, I don’t think they’re micro, but, that’s me) in a number of states’ bar exam rules. Take a look at the Twitter hashtag #bloodybarpocalypse tracking the well-placed outrage over states that won’t let folks take their own menstruation products into the bar exam:

After that social media storm rained down on the Arizona bar, they changed course and will now allow this (admittedly minor) concession:

But don’t worry, there are still a bunch of other states that have these draconian anti-cheating (and anti-woman) measures, with no regard if it’s “her time of the attorney licensing process.”

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Update: I spoke with Edythe Nash Gaiser, Clerk of Court for the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, and she clarified the WV policy. Though feminine hygiene products are not on the list of products allowed into the testing room and the state’s FAQ says, “Items, excluding laptop and components, must be in a clear bag (maximum size one gallon / 3.79 liters). Nothing else is allowed. The WVBLE will provide exam items as well as, ear plugs, tissues, and first aid and feminine hygiene products,” Gaiser says that folks taking the bar exam will be able (and have always been able) to access their own feminine hygiene products during the course of the exam. Though they are not allowed in the testing room, personal products including menstruation supplies can be left just outside of the testing area. Gaiser says that proctors can accompany test takers as they get the menstruation products they’ve brought or that proctors can hold the products for applicants as they take the exam and they’re able to access their own menstrual products whenever they need to. The feminine hygiene products provided by WVBLE are in addition to whatever an applicant may bring (but not take into the actual testing room).

Are you outraged yet? Well, you should be. And there’s a petition you should sign: Let Examinees Bring Menstrual Products into Bar Exams (sign by 6 p.m. eastern tonight for the greatest impact on this year’s bar exam).

But, wait! There’s more!

Women are also shit out of luck if they have the unmitigated gall to be nursing while taking the bar exam. In Oklahoma one applicant with a four month old child was told that she should do whatever she needs to regarding pumping in an open room with 300 other test takers.

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While another was told she would have to pump and store her milk while being monitored and within the pre-scheduled 15 minute breaks in some, as of yet undisclosed, location.

 

The profession frequently bellyaches over the lack of meaningful diversity, but without tackling these sorts of structural issues that clearly demonstrate a lack of consideration for folks that menstruate and breastfeed, well, nothing’s really going to change.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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