A Study On Gender Factors In Chinese Lawyers' Profession

There is no obvious gender tendency in the requirements of vocational accession and career development in modern lawyer profession,but empirical research shows that female lawyers in China are in the predicament of occupational gender inequality on the whole.The plight of female lawyers in China is also a microcosm of the overall disadvantage of women in China's growing urban labor market.Concerning the problems of gender inequality in the lawyer profession under the market environment,American scholars used the theory of occupational gender stereotype in social psychology to analyze the causes of the adverse situation of female groups in the legal profession system,and have achieved good results.When studying the factors that hinder the career development of women in the legal profession,American scholars found that as the performance of gender bias in people's cognitive area,occupational gender stereotype was associated with the adverse situation of female lawyers.At present,Chinese researchers rarely use the perspective of occupational gender stereotype for analysis,so this problem has still great research potential.Through empirical methods,the author studies whether Chinese people have occupational gender stereotypes about lawyers.Based on the analysis of the existing literature,the author determined three occupational gender stereotypes of female lawyers :(1)female personality characteristics do not meet the requirements of the legal profession.(2)the physiological characteristics of females lead to the conflict between females and legal profession.(3)female lawyers have weak interpersonal skills and insufficient social capital.Then,the author proposes a series of hypotheses based on multiple factors,and conducts empirical research through quasi-experiments and in-depth interviews.The hypothesis proposed by the author in this paper includes:Hypothesis 1: Chinese people believe that at every stage of the career development of lawyers,male lawyers will have more career development opportunities than female lawyers.Hypothesis 2: Chinese people will consider giving up the opportunity to cooperate with female lawyers because of their marriage and child-bearing matters.Hypothesis 3.1: Chinese people believe that male lawyers are more suitable for the litigation business than female lawyers.As the litigation business becomes more difficult,more people will agree with this view.Hypothesis 3.2: Chinese people believe that female lawyers are more suitable for non-litigation business than male lawyers.Hypothesis 3.3: Chinese people believe that female lawyers are more suitable than male lawyers to participate in mediation in litigation.The results of empirical analysis show the following condition:Firstly,Chinese people have occupational gender stereotypes about lawyers.The three types of initial occupational gender stereotypes are :(1)the characteristics of women do not meet the requirements of the legal profession.(2)the physiological characteristics of females lead to the conflict between females and legal profession.(3)female lawyers have weak interpersonal skills and insufficient social capital.Secondly,the three initial occupational gender stereotypes affected Chinese people's evaluation of lawyers' abilities,performance and positions.In general,Chinese people have the occupational gender stereotype that "lawyers who have strong ability,good performance and high position are most likely to be men".Thirdly,most Chinese people would not choose to give up cooperation with female lawyers because of their marital and child-bearing matters,but they may still have occupational gender stereotype that "marital and child-bearing matters will affect the work of female lawyers,but will not affect the work of male lawyers".Fourthly,under the influence of three initial occupational gender stereotypes,Chinese people have formed occupational gender stereotypes that "connect litigation lawyers with men",and the factors that activate occupational gender stereotypes include the characteristics of litigation business and the social situation corresponding to legal services.Fifthly,Chinese people may have occupational gender stereotypes that associates lawyer assisting vulnerable groups with women,and the factors that activate professional gender stereotypes are women's personal characteristics.Sixthly,Chinese people do not think that female lawyers are more suitable for non-litigation business and mediation in litigation.Seventhly,Chinese people may have the professional gender stereotype that "female lawyers are more suitable for auxiliary work in the legal profession".Based on the results of empirical analysis,the author analyzed the causes of occupational gender stereotypes from three perspectives:the influence of the gender system,the construction of gender by law,and the correlation between the legal professional system and gender issues.At the macro level,the gender system has led to the genderization of the lawyer profession.At the micro level,the gendered legal profession has been shaped by the gendered law.From the perspective of macro and micro level,it is the characteristics of the legal profession system that make itself to participate in the construction of occupational gender stereotypes of lawyers.Finally,based on the problems found in the empirical study,the author puts forward countermeasures:establish legal norms and systems,set up multi-level specialized institutions to maintain gender equality,reform laws education and legal vocational training.The author hope these countermeasures could help to improve the conditions of female lawyers in legal profession.