some kind of methodological problem limiting our reading of their results. Because my
study relies on observational research, I use summaries of other kinds of research sim-
ply to provide a broad backdrop for this study, focusing more intensively only on other
observational studies.)
- Id. “Gloomy” responses included students indicating that they were pessimistic
about their future career opportunities and dissatisfied with their law school experiences;
in addition, they felt that law school was unnecessarily competitive, and they did not agree
that faculty treated students respectfully. - See discussion of context in Chapter 9.
- See Mertz et al., “What Difference Does Difference Make?,” 63–64.
- Note that two of the three classes with the smallest racial disparities had dispari-
ties in favor of students of color. - See also findings from Yale Law Women, Yale Law School, 22, 70–71, 81–82, that
students of color feel more comfortable seeking out professors of color for mentoring and
career help, and that they feel that the presence of professors of color on the faculty pro-
vides important role models. - Forms of exclusion include calling primarily on boys; giving boys more specific
feedback and praise focusing on their work but praising girls for their appearance or neat-
ness; allowing little time for reflection when calling on students, which differentially se-
lected for more aggressive (disproportionately male) speakers; sex segregation outside the
classroom, with boys more often involved in active pursuits; and textbooks that feature
male achievements, largely leaving female contributions invisible. M. Sadker and Sadker,
Failing at Fairness; see also Good and Sikes, “Effects of Teacher Sex and Student Sex on
Classroom Interaction.” - AAUW, Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America, 8–11; M. Sadker and Sadker,
Failing at Fairness, 77–98; Gilligan et al., Making Connections 10, 24–27. - M. Sadker and Sadker, Failing at Fairness, 79–83; see also D. Sadker and Sadker,
“Sexism in American Education,” 57; Serbin and O’Leary, “How Nursery Schools Teach
Girls to Shut Up.” - M. Sadker and Sadker, Failing at Fairness, 80–81.
- Id., 64. The authors of this study also point to the effects of pervasive and fre-
quently denigrating sex segregation in schools, as in the following example:
TEACHER: You have written wonderful stories. I want each and every one of you to
get a chance to read them out loud. All the girls should go to [the student teacher]. If
you talk very softly and don’t bother anyone, you can read your stories in the hall.
The boys will stay in the classroom with me. (Id., 74–75, 58–63)- Jordan, “Teacher-Student Interactions”; M. Sadker and Sadker, Failing at Fairness,
- The AAUW study showed African American girls maintaining their self-esteem better
than their white counterparts: where the percentage of white girls expressing positive self-
esteem moved from 55% in elementary school to 22% in high school, black girls began higher
(65%) and dropped only 7 points (to 58%). AAUW, Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging
America, 9. (Of course, this does not mean that self-esteem and support from family can
compensate for pervasive subtle institutional discrimination.) “Hispanic” girls were reported
as beginning at the highest levels of all in elementary school (68%) but showed the most
dramatic drop (to 30%, a drop of 38 percentage points). Even with this dramatic drop, how-
ever, Latina girls were expressing higher self-esteem in high school than white girls. Id.
Because the study showed that a feeling of importance in the family was crucial to these self-
esteem measures, these findings would seem to indicate that African American and Latino
families are providing better support to their adolescent females than are white families. (For
Notes to Pages 179–185 261