Advocacy Matters - Fall 2019

systemic marginalization of women in society.
I think it’s a very good thing to commemorate
an anniversary like Persons Day and use the occasion
to learn something about our past, and
about how far we’ve come. Yet, as I wrote in my
inaugural reflection, there’s always a risk when
we focus on celebrating milestone accomplishments.
Sure, these anniversaries focus our
attention on how far we’ve come. But we must
not lose sight of how far we still must go to address
the inequities and power imbalances that
impede the full and meaningful participation of
women in the legal profession, not to mention
in politics and society at large.
One of the most persistent barriers to women’s
full and equitable participation in the legal profession
arises from the issues women lawyers
face in navigating the challenges of reintegration
into practice after parental leave and, even
more importantly, in the years when they are
raising toddlers and small children.
Let’s be honest. For all the advances made by
women in the legal profession, much of legal
practice today remains wedded to a model of
time and talent management grounded in the
social practices and attitudes of thirty or more
years ago. The organizational behaviour expert
Jennifer Petriglieri speaks of this earlier time as
an era of ‘unbounded talent’. The unbounded
talent – almost always male – conformed to the
standard of the so-called ‘ideal worker’ – someone
fully committed to work, mobile and flexible
enough to work almost without any boundaries,
be they of time or travel. Without regard
to any childcare commitments, for instance, the
unbounded talent could make an 8 am breakfast
meeting. He could meet with clients in the
late afternoon - around the time the children
would need to be picked up from school. He
could attend that networking cocktail social –
when the children need to be put to bed. He
could travel out of town on a moment’s notice.
He could even relocate altogether if new and
exciting professional opportunities called. The
other spouse – usually female – would shoulder
the burden of the childcare and be unable to
be ‘unbound’ such that she would not have the
same chances for advancement.
Most law firms still place a premium on a culture
of ‘facetime’ – of being physically present
in the office, 9-to-5 as the saying goes (granted,
and realistically, much longer) and able
to handle hours outside of a child’s school or
daycare hours.
We need to ask ourselves: how do the demands
of being seen in the office square with
the lived experience of women in the law who
are navigating a return to work after parental
leave and with small children? How realistic
is it to expect her to make it to that breakfast
meeting? Even if she has a supportive partner
at home, or adequate (if costly) childcare
arrangements, is it a sound strategy of talent
management to insist on physical presence
that punishes her for having to leave the office
early each day to pick up her child; or for
cancelling a meeting because her child is home
sick from school? These expectations disproportionately
disadvantage women, ostracizing
an enormous part of the talent pool. This does
no one – not women in law, and not the firms
or clients – any good.
The important point is this: in the digital age
in which we live, it doesn’t make sense to cling
to outdated conventions and unnecessary practices.
We need to insist on changing workplace
structures and effecting change in the cultures
that undergird them.
The digital technologies of today have
changed the practice of law. With that comes
new challenges, but also new opportunities.
The speed, efficiency and security with which
information and communication occurs
makes it entirely possible to give people flexibility
to get work done ‘off-site’. What matters,
ultimately, is that it gets done and done
well. It’s the output that matters more than
where the work gets done.
Frankly, the model of the 10- or 12-hour workday
in the office is, for many professions like
law, a relic. My own productivity has improved
enormously through a practice called split-shift.
Most evenings, I’m home for supper and then I
return to work – remotely – in the evening, once
my five-year old has gone to bed. And while I’m
always keen to take on assignments outside the
office and out-of-town, I need reasonable notice
to make sure childcare can be arranged.
I believe this is less about achieving that elusive
‘work-life’ balance, and more about insisting
that professional practice respond to
the realities, and to the opportunities, created
by the technological and social changes of our
day. With the value placed on what is important
– quality and quantity of work, not location.
All of which means demanding flexible, equitable
and, above all, productive work arrangements.
The key is to work smartly, efficiently,
and in a manner that allows women to realize
the full potential of their talent – not just the
work they do, but also the advancement and rewards
for that work. The goal, after all, is to enable
professional achievement while promoting
personal well-being; it’s about talent unleashed
rather than unbound.
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