Want to understand misogyny? Start with the clothes.
November 8, 2024
Horacek, Judy. “What’s the Difference between Being Assertive & Aggressive?” Cartoon, 1999.
— Governor Ann Richards (D-TX)
I watched Ann Richards give the keynote address at the Democratic National
Convention in the summer of 1988, a 21-year-old Wellesley alumna headed to law school. I think about this line every time a woman trial lawyer tells me a story about how her feet are ruined from wearing heels. I have thought about this line as I read countless articles about how short Kamala Harris is, how she compensates by wearing very high heels, and how comfortable and approachable she seems when she wear her low-top Chucks.
Gallons of ink spilled over Kamala’s suit colors, the un/flattering cut of the jacket, the boot cut pant leg to help her seem taller, and the pussy bows. Spectacular scrutiny while her opponent wore the same ill-fitting outfit everyday with little notice; even when he traded out the signature red tie for Proud Boys colors, almost nothing.
Kamala Harris is, to her core, a trial lawyer. She entered the courtroom as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County in 1990, about the time that women began matriculating into the profession in meaningful numbers. It wasn’t until 2000, that women and men attended law school in equal numbers.
“But if you give us a chance, we can perform. After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.”
In 2001, Professor Deborah Rhode, of Stanford University Law School, serving as chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession, issued a report on the status of women of women lawyers; at the time, women accounted for about thirty-percent of members of the legal profession. In her report, Rhode asserted that women lawyers routinely face double standards and a double bind – a Goldilocks problem of being both too soft and too strident, too aggressive and not aggressive enough. When evaluated by men, Rhode concluded that women were found abrasive when men might be viewed as assertive.
If you want to understand misogyny in the legal profession, start with the clothes.
We need to tell our stories, to set out the double standards imposed on women in professional attire. We are offering a platform to capture the oral history of our
experience in the profession. We owe this to the women and genderqueer law students.
Please participate and share your stories.