Gone are the days when the male counterpart was dominated, suppressed and concealed in veils. Females have now entered and explored the entire world in an absolutely different and unique manner and there would be no surprises or shock emotions while claiming that they are performing way better than the other gender. But the only thing which is not making the ideal situation is the less female participation ratio. Dane Fabe, the alumni of the law school at Northereastern University recounts the year 1973 when she entered the school and found that the class had the majority of females contrary to the female proportion at the law schools and justice system present nationally.
Dane Fabe described Northeastern’s School of Law as a “progressive pioneer.” She said that while law schools have made great progress but the judiciary has much caught up to do. She pointed to statistics showing that women make up only about one-third of federal court trial benches, federal courts of appeals judges, and states’ highest courts. Two states—Iowa and Idah don’t have even a single female justice on their highest courts. In her view, women chief justices have made a tremendous difference in their courts and the justice systems of the country.
She cited the example of Massachusetts Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, the state’s first female chief justice, authoring the court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage in 2003. That historic opinion, of course, became the law of the land last year. Fabe said female chief justices have also made important strides toward achieving greater work-life balance in the legal profession, a topic of significant personal importance to her throughout her career. She also underscored the work of justices Judith Kaye of New York and Kathleen Blatz of Minnesota as pioneers for protecting abused and neglected children. She exclaimed, “They made it their cause to bring to light the need to handle these cases efficiently and effectively in the courts so that children didn’t spend their childhoods in foster care and lose the chance for adoption and permanent home”.
Harminder Singh
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