Women and minorities have come a long way in the judiciary, but there is still room for improvement, Chief Judge Mary Schroeder of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said. Judge Schroeder, the first woman to be appointed to the chief judge position in that court, gave a speech titled “Whatever Happened to Diversity” on Wednesday night at the Knight Law School.
The Women’s Law Forum sponsored the event.
“Diversity in the last century was seen as a positive value — it was something good in and of itself,” Schroeder said. “(However) diversity is different from equal opportunity.”
Schroeder described how the judiciary has evolved to allow more women and minorities among its ranks. However, it has not been an easy journey for female judges like Schroeder.
Schroeder said before Jimmy Carter’s presidency, only two women had served as appellate judges. At the time, no woman had ever been appointed to the Supreme Court. In fact, women had a hard time just getting through law school in the “bad old days,” as Schroeder called them.
When Schroeder attended the University of Chicago Law School in 1962, there were only six women in her class. Women were not allowed to live or eat in the law school residence halls and had to make a three-mile round trip trek to their living quarters, “through the tundra.”
“This was before global warming,” Schroeder said, referring to Chicago’s
frigid winter.
Professors picked on the women with questions that at times were impossible
to answer.
“Most law schools didn’t have to discriminate in admissions because women didn’t apply,” she said.
Finding a job as a female lawyer was also an uphill battle. Nonetheless, anti-discrimination laws in the 1960s helped open doors for women and minorities, who in turn helped eliminate a lot of stereotypes, Schroeder said.
Still, women and minorities are underrepresented in some respects. Schroeder gave the example of the Judicial Conference of the United States, made up in part by the chief judges of the 13 circuit courts of appeal: Apart from the chief justice, it has 22 men,
4 women and no minorities.
She said as more women have entered the field over the years, the profession has become more
mobile and flexible.
“The profession is still a highly structured hierarchy, but it’s much less stratified than it used to be,” she said.
Schroeder’s speech was preceded by a panel discussion in which several women in the field of law shared their perspectives on what it means to be a woman in the profession.
United States Magistrate Judge Janice Stewart said women have to balance two full time jobs — their profession and their work at home.
“I don’t know any men that face that challenge of two jobs,” Stewart said.
U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken said it can be difficult to live up to all the expectations that come with being in professional positions.
“I think it’s a constant daily battle to stay who you are,” Aiken said, adding that people shouldn’t forget that despite their desires to excel and be “uber lawyers … you have to be a person first.”
Women at times also have to put up a tough front in the work place.
“In the work that I do … you really can’t show any fear,” U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut said.
Schroeder said the key to success in any job is to have a sense of humor.

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