The history of the legal profession in Canada and elsewhere is one of the exclusion of women, Aboriginals, ethnic and racial minorities, and those from less privileged classes. Based on face-to-face interviews with 50 women and 50 men called to the Bar in British Columbia during the past 3-7 years, Joan Brockman has studied this phenomenon and tried to determine reasons why such exclusion has been practised and what its effects have been, particularly with respect to women. Much of the discrimination still experienced stems from expectations that women, in particular, will assume primary responsibilities for child care, elder care, emotional stability in the home, household management, and other domestic matters. In addition, some women still experience sexual harassment and discrimination even if they have managed to reduce or avoid additional domestic responsibilities. Until there is significant change in how women are perceived in relation to domestic duties, it is unlikely that they will attain equality within the legal profession. The profession will only change when perceptions of the family change, at which point women will not only fit the mould at work, but men also will fit the mould at home.

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Joan Brockman teaches in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University.

Present[s] insightful accounts of the careers of mena and women lawyers, and the obstacles encountered by them, supported by sound scholarship and percipient analyses.

Sydney Law Review (2001) 23(4): 625-629

A fascinating, accessible read ... Brockman’s outstanding book provides much food for thought about systemic problems that persist within a profession that is supposed to stand for justice in our society, and both short-term and long-term strategies to deal with them.

Labour/Le Travail, Fall 2003