TY - JOUR
T1 - New Way Out for Women Lawyers: An Empirical Study in Taiwan
AU - shao, Jing-huey
PY - 2022/12/1
Y1 - 2022/12/1
N2 - Gender attrition in careers is a phenomenon across continents. Whether gender-friendly benchmarks can reflect the degree of gender equality in the legal profession is still a question that has not been adequately explored. Taiwan is an ideal jurisdiction in which to explore whether and how gender plays a role in the legal profession. Taiwan’s legal profession has a relatively balanced gender composition, similar to that of Western countries, but is a late-comer on the other side of the globe. This study is the first comprehensive survey of lawyers in Taiwan regarding their scope of practice and background. The results of the survey, along with in-depth interviews, are intended to provide an analysis of the Taiwanese legal profession, particularly under the lens of gender, including the progress and challenges for women lawyers, as well as their opportunities and strategies. The results show that even though Taiwan has weaker stereotypes for lawyers, which makes women less disadvantaged compared to those in Western countries having a long-standing history of the legal profession, the gender roles embedded in social and family contexts have restrained their career advancement opportunities. Nonetheless, the results of this study indicate that most Taiwanese women have minimized such restraints through mitigating stereotypes and “practice migration” among fields or types of practice. Such findings may not only provide explanations for Taiwan’s situation in this regard, but they may also offer insights for other similarly situated jurisdictions with a relatively newly developed legal profession.
AB - Gender attrition in careers is a phenomenon across continents. Whether gender-friendly benchmarks can reflect the degree of gender equality in the legal profession is still a question that has not been adequately explored. Taiwan is an ideal jurisdiction in which to explore whether and how gender plays a role in the legal profession. Taiwan’s legal profession has a relatively balanced gender composition, similar to that of Western countries, but is a late-comer on the other side of the globe. This study is the first comprehensive survey of lawyers in Taiwan regarding their scope of practice and background. The results of the survey, along with in-depth interviews, are intended to provide an analysis of the Taiwanese legal profession, particularly under the lens of gender, including the progress and challenges for women lawyers, as well as their opportunities and strategies. The results show that even though Taiwan has weaker stereotypes for lawyers, which makes women less disadvantaged compared to those in Western countries having a long-standing history of the legal profession, the gender roles embedded in social and family contexts have restrained their career advancement opportunities. Nonetheless, the results of this study indicate that most Taiwanese women have minimized such restraints through mitigating stereotypes and “practice migration” among fields or types of practice. Such findings may not only provide explanations for Taiwan’s situation in this regard, but they may also offer insights for other similarly situated jurisdictions with a relatively newly developed legal profession.
U2 - 10.53106/181263242022121702001
DO - 10.53106/181263242022121702001
M3 - Article
SN - 1812-6324
VL - 17
SP - 115
EP - 155
JO - National Taiwan University Law Review
JF - National Taiwan University Law Review
IS - 2
ER -
