0195182863.pdf

Student Participation and Social Difference 191

Class #8, a class in an elite law school taught by a woman of color and also the
smallest class in the study. In the five classes taught by men, male students spoke
from 10% to 17% more frequently than did women. Disparities in terms of time
were still sharper (23–38%) in four of these five classes (those taught in the higher-
status law schools of that group).
By contrast, women spoke slightly more, proportionately, than did men in the
two remaining classes, both taught by women in nonelite schools. These classes
were also the most egalitarian in terms of overall distribution of times and turns
by gender; they were the only ones with disparities between men and women stu-
dents under 10%. Thus, even where women’s participation exceeds the men’s, it
does not reach the level of disproportion found in classes where men predominate
in classroom discussion.^87 One of these two classes in which women students pre-
dominated was also the most egalitarian in terms of the percentage of students who
participated, with all students in the class participating at least once during the
semester (see Table 8.5). The egalitarian class, taught in a local law school by a

table 8.4

Summaries of Participation Ratios by Gender

Class Total Time Total Turns

Elite/Prestige

2 1.23 1.10

8 1.38 1.54

5 1.31 1.17

Regional

4 1.23 1.17

7 1.38 1.17

Local

1 1.12 1.15

6 .93 .95

3 .93 .95

Ratios are calculated by dividing the men’s participa-

tion rate by the women’s participation rate. 1.0 is the figure

that would represent equal participation by women and

men. Figures over 1.0 represent an imbalance toward male

participation; figures under 1.0 represent an imbalance

toward female participation.

Participation rates are basically the average number of

turns per student. Women’s participation rate, for example,

is the number of turns taken by women divided by the

number of women enrolled in the course. When average

participation rates are equal—that is, when the average

participation rate for one group divided by the other equals

1.0—each group is participating in proportion to its

representation in class enrollment.