Here's where I left off in my last post: New women partners are doing their damndest to develop business, but they already seem dispirited by their efforts. You almost get the sense that they're madly flapping their wings but not getting very far.
What's behind that gender gap? Are women just less confident about themselves and the future? Or are they hard-nosed realists? And are men just cockier?
The short answer is all the above. For a variety of reasons, men are simply more in the loop--both inside and outside of the firm.
For starters, men tend to identify more closely with the power structure. More men say they received leadership or management training from their firms (45 percent of men versus 33 percent of women). There was also at least a ten-point split in how the genders rated their satisfaction levels on client contact (56 percent of men versus 45 percent of women said they were “very satisfied”) and management openness about money matters (32.5 percent of men versus 22.5 percent of women answered “very satisfied”).
One brand-new M&A partner at an Am Law 100 firm says she already knows she can't compete with the boys: “It’s easier for men to develop business, because there are more men in position to hire outside lawyers.” It's a stereotype, she adds, but her male colleagues really seem to bond with male clients over golf.
Indeed, even at the starting gate, men are already ahead in the race. In the Am Law survey, male partners attribute almost 23 percent of their work to business they've generated, compared to 16 percent by women.
So the upshot is this: Female partners are still guests at the boys' club. What's a gal to do? Climb out of the treehouse?
Not to despair (totally)--my next post will look at some solutions.
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