ABA Article: ‘Woman Thing’: Some Attire is Career-Limiting

Read the complete article at:

http://www.abajournal.com/news/woman_thing_some_attire_is_career_limiting/

‘Woman Thing’: Some Attire is Career-Limiting Posted Jan 24, 2008, 03:21 pm CST By Martha Neil

As Hillary Clinton’s presence in the presidential race is once again demonstrating, far more attention often is paid to the way women in positions of power dress, compared to their male counterparts.

A woman who fails to dress to impress will pay a high price in politics, just as she does in the business world, writes the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). However, standing out too much—say, by wearing a red suit—can be problematic, too.Consequently, a modern-day version of a style your well-to-do mother or grandmother might have worn—think a St. John knit suit, for instance—carries quite a bit of cachet among the women who look to Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and others in their realm for fashion cues.Women in positions of power express frustration with the extreme, almost comical attention paid to the way they look

—but recognize the importance of dressing appropriately, the newspaper writes. Helpful feedback, however, can be hard to obtain, because many prominent women are reluctant to address the subject of dress publicly.“You hate even talking about it because it’s such a woman thing,” says Kathryn Marinello, Ceridan Corp.’s chairman and chief executive.

Among the tips the WSJ offers for women: spend money on good, closed-toe shoes and avoid French manicures and shiny lip gloss.

The article offers a bit of advice, for men, too. Tassels on shoes are just as controversial as bow ties, it says. And one can seldom go wrong by wearing a good, dark suit.

Bucking The Trend, Having A Baby Before 30

Cadwalader Associate Among Those Bucking Trend, Having a Baby Before 30 

By Debra Cassens Weiss

Read the complete article at: http://www.abajournal.com/news/cadwalader_associate_among_those_bucking_the_trend_having_a_baby_before_30/

College grads living in metropolitan areas who decide to have children before the age of 30 are bucking the demographic trend. That leaves the women who decide to have babies feeling alone and out of the mainstream, the Washington Post reports. In metro areas, the percentage of college graduates between the ages of 25 and 29 who have children is 13 percent for men and 31 percent for women, according to the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center. Women who are college grads usually have their first child at about the age of 30, reports the National Center for Health Statistics.

Among those who decided not to put off children is 28-year-old associate Erin Foley Lewis of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, who has twins.

“By the time I’m at a point in my career where I am going to be making partner, my kids are going to be old enough to be playing on their own and sleeping on their own,” Lewis told the newspaper. “If I had waited until 33 to have children, I’d have newborns at the time I would be up for partner.”

Another young mother is 28-year-old law student Amy Elliott, who attends George Washington University. “When I walk up to the day care with Emmett, I always feel like they are looking at me and thinking, ‘Oh, she’s the babysitter dropping off the kid, or whatever,’ ” she said.

Jan. 29th Meeting – “How To Have It All – The Career And The Family”

We are pleased to present the following panel for this month’s meeting to be held at noon, on January 29th, in the 10th Floor Board Room of the Bar Association’s Headquarters:

Jeniemae Almquist
Raynes, McCarty

Sharon L. Caffrey
Partner, Duane Morris LLP

Karen Detamore
Executive Director, Friends of Farmworkers, Inc.

Deborah Epstein Henry
Founder and President, Flex-Time Lawyers LLC

Moderators: 

Maria Feeley and Danielle Banks

Also, save the date for our next meeting – February 26, 2008.To register for the January 29, 2008 – Luncheon Program, go to www.philadelphiabar.org.  The cost of lunch is $7.50 per person and will only be prepared for those that have made reservations and paid in advance.  Checks should be made payable to the Philadelphia Bar Association.  All reservations that are not canceled 24 hours prior to the event will be subject to a cancellation fee of $7.50.  To cancel, please contact Dawn Burger at 215-238-6367 or dburger@philabar.org.