Why a Women's Bar?
| Publication year | 2023 |
| Pages | 04 |
WELCOME | PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
BY CWBA PRESIDENT EMMA GARRISON (GUEST AUTHOR)
My favorite moment in the movie Barbie is when Barbie, shortly after arriving in the real world, sees a billboard with nine contestants from the Miss Universe pageant and enthusiastically exclaims, “Oh look! The Supreme Court!”
In the pink-hued fantasy world of Barbieland, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s famous quote about when there would be enough women on the Supreme Court—“when there are nine”—is lived out and unquestioned. In the real world, not so much.
Women in the Profession Today
While women are hardly invisible in the practice of law in 2023, women are still underrepresented in many important ways.
According to a 2022 study of private law firms, women comprised the majority of 2L summer associates (55.6%), half of associates (49.3%), but only slightly over a quarter of partners (26.8%).[1] A dismal 4.6% of partners were women of color.[2] A study of Fortune 1000 companies found that women made up just over a third of general counsels in 2021, which was a significant increase compared to 2020.[3]
Women judges make up 42% of Colorado's judicial branch.[4] Promisingly, 50% of judges appointed in fiscal year 2022 were women.[5] While women currently make up half of Colorado's General Assembly,[6] Colorado has never had a female governor or US senator, and Denver has never seen a female mayor.
The Washington Post reported in October 2022 that since 2017, only 20% of litigants who argued before the US Supreme Court were women.[7] And of those women, only 10 were women of color.[8] Colorado Politics conducted a similar report this past spring and concluded that more than two-thirds of cases before the Colorado Supreme Court and Court of Appeals and were argued by men.[9]
"Do We Need Our Own Bar?"
This data underscores why organizations dedicated specifically to advancing women are needed. But this question is still asked frequently and is still worth answering.
Confession time: this was a question I once asked myself. And, more specifically, I asked, "Do I need a women's bar?" My hesitation centered around the assumption that members of the Colorado Women's Bar Association (CWBA) were all singularly focused on the fast track and that I was not sufficiently ambitious to truly belong. I also used to feel a lot of discomfort with embracing the label "feminist."
After choosing "Why a Women's Bar?" as the angle for this piece, I decided to consult the CWBA archives. And I happened to come across a CWBA newsletter from 1978 addressing this...
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