If you have followed my chair’s columns, you probably have noticed that I often speak of communication as key to understanding differences and creating a pathway to change. Today, I would like to focus on a sister concept—collaboration—particularly how the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession (CWP) and ABA sections, divisions, and forums collaborate on projects related to gender equity and why I hope more collaboration will occur in the coming ABA bar year and beyond. Although the 12 ABA commissioners are appointed by the ABA president each bar year, the voices at our meetings and in our work are much broader than the 12 commissioners.
October 20, 2021 Chair's Column
CWP Continues Collaborating on Projects Related to Gender Equity
By Maureen Mulligan
All ABA entities are encouraged and invited to appoint a liaison to the CWP, and all liaisons participate in our meetings. The CWP wants to hear about the work on gender equity undertaken by the sections, divisions, and forums. If there is crossover with CWP projects, collaboration will enrich the work being done by both entities. I hope that liaisons are taking back information about the most current research projects, publications, and webinars that the CWP is producing and that this work is being used in connection with section, division, and forum projects. Additionally, all CWP meetings are open to ABA members, whether or not you are a liaison. If you want to get on our agenda to report on a project you are working on—or to explore ways to collaborate—reach out.
Recently, the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Women.Connected Committee approached the CWP to collaborate on a Grit project. This collaboration produced the 21 Day Grit & Growth Mindset Challenge. This 21-day challenge is composed of short daily activities to help build knowledge of grit and growth mindset concepts. You can do the challenges on your own, or create a group to collaborate on the project. See https://www.americanbar.org/groups/diversity/women/initiatives_awards/grit-project/21-day-about for more information or to start the challenge.
The National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations (NCWBA) and the CWP have collaborated on joint presentations of the NCWBA GOOD (Guys Overcoming Obstacles to Diversity) Guys program and the CWP research on Men in Mix for presentations and discussions on how male lawyers can be allies to the advancement of women in the legal profession. Recently, the ABA Young Lawyers Division joined in a program to facilitate a discussion on how the next generation of male lawyers can step up their allyship for women lawyers and other diverse members of the profession.
This issue of Perspectives highlights the Day of Conversation hosted by the CWP where an overwhelming number of ABA entities, ABA members, and their employers collaborated with us by participating in the Guided Conversations Project to discuss the intersectional challenges faced by women lawyers of color and began the discussion of gender, race, and ethnicity for many legal employers. Importantly, many who participated in this day of conversation provided feedback on the toolkit, which informs our continued work on this topic. Here I have highlighted just three collaborative projects.
Finally, do not forget about our “Resources” tab on the CWP website. In particular, I would like to highlight our new Multimedia Library where the CWP has posted interviews from the World Forum for Women in the Law and webinars presented by the Commission. If you missed some of our programming, check here for the “replay.” For many, our work remains remote. The daily contact with professional colleagues has changed to videoconferencing. If you are missing the opportunity to discuss gender equity or share ideas with your colleagues, please use our resources to collaborate and continue or create your own discussions. Let us know if we can collaborate with you.