Good Old Fashioned Gender Stereotypes in the Workplace

Much like Britney Spears was not a girl, not yet a woman, I am not a law student, not yet a lawyer. I'm in that strange limbo of having a job but waiting for my bar results. My only credential is as a Juris Doctor, but I am not yet an Esquire, and am not licensed to practice in the state of California.

That being said, I've completed my legal education and am doing work that is entirely lawyerly. Thus, I was quite put off when these two financial guys in suits came into the office today looking for the attorney I work for, and while they were waiting for him, asked me if I was the paralegal. Hmm...woman in a law office? Must be a paralegal!

Now, I know there are people out there rolling their eyes and thinking, oh relax and don't be so uptight...it was harmless. Ok...maybe it was an honest mistake. I mean, I was actually doing work, and everyone knows real lawyers don't actually do work. Or maybe it was because I have a desk right when you walk in, and everyone knows real lawyers have some fancy important office somewhere not right next to the door. But I think we all know that if my male colleague was sitting by the door working on the computer, they would not have said, "so, are you the paralegal?"

What kind of a question is that, anyway? You're here to talk to the attorney about finances...what is it to you what I do? Perhaps I'm extra reactive because during my first legal internship after my first year of law school, a deputy attorney general introduced himself to me and asked me if I was the new legal secretary. It really just pissed me off...because I'm sure every year around May or June they get a slew of legal interns. It makes FAR more sense that a new face around the office in May would be an intern than a legal secretary. And again...what are the chances he would have said that to a young male intern?

I know people are sick of hearing about sexism, and people are also quick to blame women for being oversensitive about it. But I doubt it would have been kosher for me to say, "no, I'm an associate...are you a frat boy fresh out of college who wears striped shirts out to the clubs on the weekends, shops exclusively at Abercrombie, and hopes to have a long career screwing people so you can be rich?" So even though it was probably true, I kept my mouth shut. Because I remember the old adages of basic human decency: Don't judge a book by its cover; treat people like you want to be treated; if you can only think of things to say that are rooted in outdated sexist stereotypes, say nothing at all, etc.

So boys, a piece of advice...if you are going to make small talk in a legal office, at least make it about something innocuous that doesn't include ridiculously antiquated notions of men as lawyers and women as legal secretaries and paralegals. Because in a few months when the bar results come in (God willing), I'll be a legitimate lawyer. And we all know the only thing scarier than a scorned woman is a scorned woman with a license to practice law.