We write to congratulate the Harvard Women’s Law Association on the publication of their most recent Shatter the Ceiling study, and to emphasize that we are in this fight together. In 2016, it is both disheartening and frustrating that women are still underrepresented on the Harvard Law Review and receive fewer academic honors than men. Yale Law Women’s recent “Speak Up: Now What?” report presented similar findings on women’s underrepresentation in traditionally prestigious academic pursuits at Yale Law School. In our prestige-conscious profession, in which women continue to earn less money and occupy fewer leadership positions than men, these imbalances matter.
Like the WLA, Yale Law Women strives to address gender disparities at our school head-on. The first step towards fixing these problems is to reveal them, in detail. There is no substitute for hard data, and the Shatter the Ceiling study and “Speak Up: Now What?” leave no question that gender inequality at top law schools is real. In the two short years since the YLW report, the data has inspired change at Yale. YLW and other affinity groups forged a partnership with the Yale Law Journal to reach out to women and other historically underrepresented groups to better facilitate their participation. We are also in constant dialogue with Yale Law School administrators and faculty about how to create a law school environment and a legal profession in which women can thrive. Together, we have made important strides, but our work is nowhere near done.
Both Harvard and Yale can and must do better by their women law students. We are confident that the Shatter the Ceiling report will spark renewed dialogue around vital issues of gender equality at Harvard Law School and beyond, and we applaud the WLA for their tireless efforts in pursuit of this goal.
From the 2016-17 Board of Yale Law Women: Catherine Chen, Cecilia Cheng, Rachel Chung, Lauren Hobby, Lauren Miller, Elizabeth Pierson, Emily Wanger, and Helen White.