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Vying for the Lead in the Boys’ Club: Understanding the Gender Gap in Multidistrict Leadership Appointments
Updated study: December 21, 2018 by Dana Alvaré
For more information visit: https://www2.law.temple.edu/csj/publication/mdl-study/
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This 2018 update to Vying for the Lead in the “Boys’ Club” examines court-appointed multidistrict litigation leadership in cases initiated in 2016 and 2017, to understand what has happened with rates of female appointment
in the years following the initial study. Overall,
results indicate that the gender gap in multidistrict leadership appointments remains substantial. Consistent with the previous findings from 2011 through 2015, women are appointed at far lower rates than men in all categories of leadership positions.
At the same time, the linear trends of the average rates of female appointment over all the years analyzed indicate consistent and steady progress for female leadership. These findings continue to serve as the basis for further exploration of the institutional, cultural, and interpersonal factors that contribute to the sizeable gender discrepancy in MDL leadership appointment rates through depth interviews with practitioners. It is intended that these findings will inform future initiatives for women’s advancement in court-appointed leadership and the legal profession as a whole.
Dana Alvaré’s study Vying for the Lead in the Boys Club: Understanding the Gender Gap in Multidistrict Leadership Appointments, examines MDL dockets over the last five years and quantifies the current rate of disparity in leadership appointments. She identifies which, if any, case factors that correlate with these rates, and lays the groundwork for future exploration of the contributing factors to the discrepancy.
Dana Alvaré is a lawyer and a doctoral candidate in sociology of gender and law at the University of Delaware where her research focuses on law and society, specifically gender in the legal profession.
In addition to teaching sociology of gender and law classes at various universities, Dana is the current
Global Coordinator of the Women’s Initiative Network at Reed Smith LLP, and recently served as the Research Fellow for the Women in Legal Leadership Project at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law. Prior to her work in academia, Dana practiced land use and municipal law in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.