Infobit: Since 1985, law schools have been graduating classes of new lawyers that are 40% or more female. Yet in 1996, only 14.2% of law firm partners were women, and in 2005, only 17.2% were women. (Note: this figure is for all partners; the number of equity partners is lower.) Source: Catalyst. At this rate of increase, women should make up half of law firm partners by the year 2115.

For past Infobits, check our the Infobit Archive.

Williams, Joan, Unbending Gender: Why Work and Family Conflict and What To Do About It (Oxford University Press, 2000).  Available from amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, borders.com, and other booksellers

Facing The Grail: Confronting the Cost of Work-Family Imbalance, Report of the Boston Bar Association Task Force on Professional Challenges and Family Needs (Boston Bar Association, 1999, available at www.bostonbar.org)

The Unfinished Agenda: Women and the Legal Profession, by Deborah Rhode for the ABA Commission on Women in the Legal Profession (2001, available at http://www.abanet.org/women)

More Than Part Time: The Effect of Reduced-Hours Arrangements on the Retention, Recruitment, and Success of Women Attorneys in Law Firms (Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts, 2000) available at http://womenlaw.stanford.edu/mass.rpt.html

Chanow, Linda Bray, Results of Lawyers, Work and Family: A Study of Alternative Schedule Programs at Law Firms in the District of Columbia, available on the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia website (www.wbadc.org)

Women in Law: Making the Case (Catalyst 2001)

Hiott-Levine and Kirsten Scheurer Branigan, Women in the Legal Profession: The Quest to Overcome Barriers to Advancement Continues—Working Toward Meaningful Solutions (Commerce Magazine, Summer 2006).

Bennett, Shaunna, Call for Work that Works for Families and Profit (American University News, 2000)

Ostrow, Ellen, Beyond The Billable Hour, newsletter about work/life balance for attorneys (www.lawyerslifecoach.com) 

Center for Gender in Organizations, Simmons Graduate School of Management (numerous articles available at the publications page)

The Washington Work/Life Coalition

Boston College Center for Work & Family

The National Partnership for Women and Families

Cornell Employment and Family Careers Institute

The Center for Working Families

Families and Work Institute 

Work-Family Researchers Electronic Network, sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Center for Work & Family

Montgomery Work/Life Alliance

Working Moms Refuge

Catalyst

The Glass Ceiling

Working Mother

Working Woman

Radcliffe Public Policy Center

The Kunz Center for the Study of Work & Family, Department of Sociology at the University of Cincinnati