He saved his real ire, however, for Professor Warren. Early on in his personal attack, he called her a “lady”. It was the word and his emphasis on the word that gave me pause. It made two young women at my table flinch too, and they rolled their eyes as they whispered to each other.
I am a white male born just at the end of the baby boom. I grew up in a comfortable middle class home in a nice suburb in one of the nation’s largest cities. From my earliest memories of elementary school, I competed with women (at the time they were of course 1st graders like me). I remember running from the bus to meet my mother with my report card, which had a few A’s but was also smattered with a few other letters. Alas, I knew that my best friend, neighbor and competitor in all matters, Marisa was delivering another set of straight A’s to her mother… who would talk with my mother (you get the picture). Through high school and college and into law school, women were always at least half the class. Some were superstars and some were not, but it never seemed based on anything but merit.
Entering the workforce, as a young lawyer, women were — as they always had been — my colleagues and competitors. But for the first time, I started seeing a distinction between men and women in the workplace. Women bear children. Men do not. Because of that basic biological reality, I started seeing woman in significant numbers going part time, or taking a position in-house where the hours were more regular. They had biological imperatives that I could not appreciate. Another more troubling change was the behavior of some men, mostly of my father’s generation, and how they treated women in the workplace.
They, the men, were the partners, women were associates and the male partners exploited that power. I knew that took place, subtly and overtly, and some law firms were worse than others. Without minimizing this underside of my profession, many of my female friends and colleagues deservedly persevered and reached the pantheon of our profession, becoming Judges, Managing Partners of law firms, general counsels of large corporations, and law professors. Based on my limited slice of reality, where women had done quite well, I have always been a bit dubious of claims for gender discrimination, particularly as it relates to female professionals.
My comfortable (and naïve) perception that all was right in the world of gender and employment was snapped earlier this week. I was attended a conference at no less than the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC, just across Lafayette Park from the White House. I was there to see and hear Professor Elizabeth Warren. Since 2008, she has been a powerful voice for consumers; no, she has been the most powerful voice for consumers. And now as she races to get the new Consumer Finance Protection Board (CFPB) up and running, she faces the full court press of corporate, banking and Wall Street interests attempting to derail her.
As I learned the other day, that fight includes gender. Preceding Professor Warren’s presentation were some remarks by Congressman Spencer Bachus, Chair of the House Financial Services Committee. The Congressman rambled on a bit about the economy and competition and the absolute evils of regulation — nothing more than a worn out stump speech. Most interesting was his awkward attempt to compare regulators in the U.S. to Maoist China (but that is for another day).
He saved his real ire, however, for Professor Warren. Early on in his personal attack, he called her a “lady”. It was the word and his emphasis on the word that gave me pause. It made two young women at my table flinch too, and they rolled their eyes as they whispered to each other. They were young staffers of the Chamber of Commerce, so it wasn’t just me. Mr. Bachus was using Professor Warren’s gender as an attack. To my ears it was, "how can a lady be trusted to really understand all this important finance regulation?" or similarly, "how dare a lady tell us what to do?" It was offensive. And sadly the same sentiment was echoed by the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue.
Just on the other side of the Capitol, attorneys hoping to maintain their class action lawsuit on behalf of over one million past and present female employees of Walmart presented arguments to the Supreme Court. The crux of the plaintiffs’ case is that Walmart’s management in Arkansas has an unspoken culture, a code, for favoring men over women in promotion and pay.
I admit before my visit the US Chamber of Commerce, while I was supportive of the case I remained somewhat dubious of the merits. No more.