Passing of the Baton- Continuing the Work of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I read the other day, you’ll never forget where you were when you heard about Justice Ginsburg’s passing. And I don’t think I ever will. To be precise I was catching up with a girlfriend over a glass of Pinot Noir in the West Village on Hudson Street. A particularly cool night. A signal that the seasons are changing.

I’ve spent the past few days processing the passing of  the most influential advocate for gender equality of this generation, and the generation before. I’ve reread some of her most famous opinions and great dissents that have impacted the rights of women in this country. I won’t get into all the everyday rights that women can thank Justice Ginsburg for. And I won’t capture her life’s work here either. Both deserve your thorough attention and comprehension so I’ve included links to resources I found did a laudable job providing this information.

Rather, I wanted to come with a roadmap. What’s resonated with me is how Justice Ginsburg’s words still apply to the world women operate in today. Some of these decisions were made far before my lifetime, but some of them during it. To be blunt, there is still work left to be done. Below you’ll find an honest assessment of how organizations can lift women up based on my own experiences as well as others that I’ve spoken with. I hope you’ll take this as the pass of the baton and consider your role in further narrowing the gender equality gap particularly your role in supporting women in the legal field.

A(d)vocate

It’s merely not enough to hire more women to inflate the numbers of how many women are working within your organization. Quite frankly with women making up the majority of students enrolled in law school, it’s not hard to ensure that you have plenty of women in your legal department or associate class. Rather, you have to promote the advancement of women to grow within your organization. Give women the same opportunities to be put on projects as men. Reward achievement with the same promotions that men are afforded. Women need seats at the table where the big decisions are being made, even if it means they get to have all nine seats (had to throw that one in there).

And how can you do your part? If you’re a woman in a position to advocate for another woman, why wouldn’t you? Eliminating the fear that your own role is at risk if another female moves up in the ranks is the only way to move all women forward. It’s 2020, there’s no room for the one woman at the table mentality. If you’re still living in that world, please locate Marty McFly and head back a few decades. You should also encourage your male colleagues to do the same. We can’t simply rely on this notion that women have to be there for other women, we all should support women in the furthering of their careers. This is about being treated equally, not differently. 

You can also do your part by choosing to give business to entities who align with your commitment to equality. As in-house counsel, a non-negotiable when selecting outside counsel is that they must have a diverse staff on a project. Yes, that means women. It also means diversity in race, sexual orientation, age, etc. What if all in-house teams made the same request? Suddenly, we’d see law firms shifting to create even more diverse teams because of their staffing needs for all their clients. Suddenly, legal departments are automatically staffing with diverse teams.

Giving Women a Voice

You’ve brought a woman to the table, but have you “given” her the opportunity to participate? Not as easy as it sounds, but surveys indicate this doesn’t naturally happen. We need to allow women to use their voices and give them the confidence to speak up. I put this on the leaders, and I’ve witnessed the power in doing so in my own career. When I’m in a business meeting, and one of our executives turns to me and asks me those six words, “and what do you think, Ava?,” I’m given an opportunity to demonstrate my subject matter expertise, build my confidence, and represent to a group of seasoned business people that I am a valuable part of the team, even if I’m one of the few females in the room. This then becomes cognitive training moving forward to the team that Ava’s voice matters. Do your part to give women a voice.

On the other hand, what’s worse than ignoring the token female at the table? Interrupting her when she does open her mouth. The phenomenon of manterrupting has been well documented. We’ve all witnessed it at some point—any chance the woman has to open her mouth, she’s immediately cut off by a man. If you’re the appropriate person (the client or the leader) and witness manterrupting or any interrupting for that matter, shift the conversation back to the speaker and give the person their voice back. And remember interrupting anyone, makes you look bad, not the person being cut off.

2020- Be authentic or go home

In 2020, people only want the real deal and can spot a counterfeit from a mile away. How about we focus on being authentic with how we give women opportunities in the workplace? Optics are important in business that’s the truth. However, finding all the women in your firm to attend a client meeting to demonstrate your strong female presence will come off as unnatural. There’s a balance between promoting women to promote women and promoting women because you believe that diverse teams perform better. You don’t need to take my word for it, the studies back this up. Identify your organization’s core values, and see how promoting gender equality can be woven into your DNA in an authentic way that leads to a more successful organization and better serves your clients.

If the above seems a bit depressing, it shouldn’t be. What a boring world we’d be living in, if we didn’t have some work to take care of. I’ll let Justice Ginsburg have the final words here, “I am optimistic, however, that movement towards enlistment of the talent of all who compose, ‘We, the people,’ will continue.”