Quote:
Originally posted by ltl/fb
This is all bullshit anyway. At least men don't have to wade through it, ending up in the lose-lose situation where if you don't go to the retreat, you are a self-hating woman and if you do, you miss three days of billing and don't meet your quota. Plus, all these programs do is encourage divisiveness.
|
My firm does approximately dick for mentoring. I've got, officially, two mentors. Only one is an actual person. The other is "all the partners in the group." If I'm an asshole for seeing some of the value in mentoring and wishing that I was maybe invited to a retreat every once in a while, then I'm an asshole. But it does, just a touch, make me wonder what the firm really cares about when they have minority retreats and women's retreats, but nothing for everyone.
And, sure, I'm a whining white guy. I've had it pretty good, and I appreciate it. But, in the workplaces I've been in (all major law firms), I haven't seen women treated poorly as a group. I haven't seen minorities treated poorly as a group. I've seen individuals treated poorly, and I've seen those groups enjoy the benefits of policies and mentorship and programs.
I think, in the modern law firm, that women get the best of both worlds. In the firms I've been employed, sure, fewer women are making partner. But that's certainly influenced by the fact that many female associates come from affluent families and have spouses who make a lot of money and want to have kids. In my observation, they're not making partner because they don't want to at the same rates that men want to. They don't want to make the sacrifices that are required. And, frankly, neither do I. I enjoy life far too much to kill myself and never see my loved ones and never do the stuff that I want to. And, because men are supposed to be the ones who want to kill themselves to make partner, I suffer because I don't.
