The Language of Law School This page intentionally left blank

participated more in class: “The overall probability of a woman student speaking
in class was .83 relative to a 1.0 probability of a male student speaking in class.”
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The participation rates for women in classes taught by women was still lower (.79).
Similarly, women were less likely to volunteer (.74 as opposed to 1.0) and again
had slightly lower rates of volunteering in classes taught by women.
These observational studies documented a pattern in which men speak more
than women in most law school classes. It is possible that on an individual level,
this difference in participation can have multiple meanings. In other settings, si-
lence has been interpreted in a number of ways, including as a form of resistance.
One purpose of this extensive review of relevant literature is to provide a thor-
ough examination of educational settings in the United States so that we can
better understand what is known about the meaning of differential female silence
in these settings. The link between lowered confidence and differential silence
emerges in early education and is found repeatedly in studies ranging from ele-
mentary schools through college and into law school. In law schools in particu-
lar, I argue, there is an institutional level on which silence has meaning even apart
from its interpretation by individual speakers. Law school is, after all, a training
in a kind of language. One of the hallmarks of legal training is the instillation of
new norms of adversarial speech, and one canonical legal context in which many
lawyers will wind up working (the courtroom) requires that attorneys be able to
hold up their end of verbal exchanges. Differential silence on the part of women
and students of color in law school classrooms therefore takes on institutional
meaning along numerous dimensions.
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Another issue raised by observational studies is the relationship between gen-
der of professor and student participation. Although surveys had indicated a posi-
tive effect of women professors on women students’ classroom experience and