- Prof. Jemison discusses how women and minorities experience discrimination and obstacles in fields like law, using the metaphor of a canary in a coal mine. She notes fewer female law students want to do public service work over time, which may be due to a male-dominated culture that values individualism over public service. Prof. Jemison also provides examples of how law school experiences are shaped more for male students, such as participation rates in Socratic classrooms. She questions if policies like the Patriot Act would have passed if more women were in Congress or law school teaching emphasized collaboration over competition. Overall, Prof. Jemison examines gender differences in legal education and careers.

1. Policy Issues around Technology and
Sustainable Development“ Mae Jemison,
Professor of Environmental Science,
Dartmouth College 2000-2001 Voices of
Public Intellectuals Lecture Series
• Prof Jemison uses the example of the miner’s canary
to speak about the experiences of women and
minorities in public life and the legal profession.
• If the canaries in the mines died, the miners knew
that their air supply was poisoned.
• As canaries, women and minorities are blamed for
the problems that they experience.
• Prof Jemison mentions the attitude some have that
‘losers’ deserve their lot in life but does not mention
that this view is linked to Protestantism and
Conservative politics.

2. Female law students
• Jemison uses her experiences of
women in law to illustrate the following
points:
• 33% of female first year law students
and 10% of males wanted to do public
service law. By third year this had
dropped to 8% of females and 5% of
males.
• This point can be linked to the story
Jemison told about how men and
women play the game. If men have
taken over the game and their
viewpoint is that public service is less
desirable than individualism then that
may explain these results.

3. Soft subjects
• The idea that men have shaped the law school experience is
illustrated by the example that men are 3 times more likely to
be in the top 10% of the class and 1.5 times more likely to be in
the top 50% of the class even though their qualifications were
equal to the female students on entry. Jemison links this fact to
the blaming the victim scenario by giving an example of a
colleague who said that the wrong women were being admitted
and they had probably majored in ‘soft subjects’ before law
school.
• Jemison’s main point is how power is used. Men seem to
prefer the power over game while females prefer the
power with.

4. Playing the game
• Therefore male students prefer the Socratic
classroom, they raise their hands, speak at
length even though they don’t know what
point they want to make and thus deprive
others of the opportunity to speak and set
the agenda. Jemison calls this building
leadership skills (I disagree).
• In the Socratic classroom, 66% of females
do not participate and this no longer
bothers them by third year.
• Females prefer a learning community,
prefer to say something relevant and give
summaries.

5. 107 United States Uniting and Strengthening
America by Providing
Congress Appropriate Tools Required to
Intercept and Obstruct
• Assuming that many Congressmen had been Terrorism Act of 2001
trained in Socratic classrooms their training may
have shaped the current policy agenda.
• Many of the Bills passed in Congress are not read
beforehand, presumably Congressmen are using
their time to speak at great length when they don’t
know yet what point they want to make.
• The Patriot Act, passed after Sept 11, which
restricted many personal freedoms was printed in
the middle of the night and passed without being
read (Michael Moore). Many states and districts
have since repealed parts or all of the Patriot Act as
being unconstitutional
• Would the Patriot Act have passed with more
females in Congress, or with a learning community
style of teaching in law school?

6. Preference for Professors
• Both men and women prefer
professors with knowledge of the
subject who express their ideas
clearly.
• Females also want professors who
treat them respectfully.
• Canadian students told me that the
first female Distinguished Professor
XXXXX is “so nice” and always
makes time for them. None talked
about her research, books or 40+
page CV.