Beware of female lawyers or professionals who profess being the first woman to do anything
I was recently reminded of the difficulty that some female lawyers, judges and other professionals experience from other female professionals of an older generation. I refer to the generation of women that broke barriers and courageously paved the way for all of us by creating careers in a male dominated industry, including law. I have great respect for these women. I am deeply grateful to them. I just wish they were not determined to make everyone else who came after them as miserable as they must have been blazing the way in their career path.
Whenever I hear a female professional introduce herself by referring to how she was first to do this or the only one female to do that - I am immediately on guard. It is often communicated in a less than cheerful way and sometimes followed by a decidedly less than pleasant interchange.
I still remember the time that a female judge refused to grant me, a lowly paralegal, a mutually agreed adjournment after having granted at least half a dozen adjournments before and after me to my male counterparts. Thankfully, there aren't that many women still practicing from that generation but every so often you encounter one. They were raised in a male dominated business environment where competition was king and they had to struggle to achieve whatever success they achieved.
Now, I also have to qualify my commentary by saying that I was the beneficiary of a great deal of female mentorship - just not from that early generation.
So, if you are lucky to encounter such an icon, by all means be grateful and respectful. Were it not for them, we would not be where we are today as female professionals. On the other hand, do be careful because they may put you through the ringer for no other reason than that is what they experienced and they are testing your mettle.
My suggestion: listen, be polite and be careful.
There are significant generational differences among men and women who entered the workforce in different decades. There are apparently 4 generations of women and men in the workforce today. I started my legal career in the late 80s when everyone worked 24X7 and I experienced a change in attitude with lawyers who entered the workforce in the 90s. There is an ever growing desire for more work/life balance as each younger generation enters the workforce and there may be conflicts with older generation managers who were trained in a different environment. While new technologies have caused little break from work these days since we seem to be on call at all times, older generations expect face time. You need to show them your work results so that they do not judge you primarily on the basis of hours spent in the office.
Recognizing these generational differences can hopefully improve your work relationships.
