Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T13:05:32.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What's Gender Got to Do with It? Incivility in the Federal Courts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Lilia M. Cortina ,
Kimberly A. Lonsway ,
Vicki J. Magley ,
Leslie V. Freeman ,
Linda L. Collinsworth ,
Mary Hunter  and
Louise F. Fitzgerald
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The current study examines experiences of interpersonal mistreatment in federal litigation among a random sample of 4,608 practicing attorneys. Using both quantitative and qualitative survey data, we documented the nature and interplay of general incivility, gender-related incivility, and unwanted sexual attention. Nearly 75% of female attorneys had experienced some form of this misconduct in the previous five years, compared to half of male attorneys. An in-depth examination of instigators revealed that not only fellow attorneys but also federal judges, court personnel, marshals, and court security officers instigated the inappropriate behavior. We further found that most attorneys responded to this mistreatment with avoidance and denial; few used or trusted existing reporting mechanisms. The current study surpassed simple prevalence estimates to document effects of interpersonal mistreatment on the professional well-being of targeted attorneys. We discuss implications of these results, drawing on theories of social dominance, sex-role spillover, cognitive stress, organizations, and intervention.

Type
Symposium: Eighth Circuit Gender Fairness Study
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , Spring 2002 , pp. 235 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2002 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Bar Association. 1986. In the Spirit of Public Service: A Blueprint for the Rekindling of Lawyer Professionalism. 112 F. R. D. 243.Google Scholar
Arvey, Richard D., and Cavanaugh, M. A. 1995. Using Surveys to Assess the Prevalence of Sexual Harassment: Some Methodological Problems. Journal of Social Issues 51: 39–52.Google Scholar
Ashton, William A., and Fuehrer, Ann. 1993. Effects of Gender and Gender Role Identification of Participant and Type of Social Support Resource on Support Seeking. Sex Roles 28: 461–76.Google Scholar
Aspen, Marvin E. 1998. It's How You Play the Game. Trial, July, 28–32.Google Scholar
Bateman, Thomas S., and Organ, Dennis W. 1983. Job Satisfaction and the Good Soldier: The Relationship between Affect and Employee “Citizenship. Academy of Management Journal 26: 587–95.Google Scholar
Beere, Carole A. 1990. Gender Roles: A Handbook of Tests and Measures. New York: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Black, Donald. 1976. The Behavior of Law. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brownmiller, Susan. 1975. Against Our will: Men, Women and Rape. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Burger, Warren. 1971. The Necessity for Civility. 52 F. R. D. 211.Google Scholar
Butler, Timothy, Giordano, Stephen, and Neren, Steven. 1985. Sex Roles 13: 515–24.Google Scholar
Carli, Linda L. 1999. Gender, Interpersonal Power, and Social Influence. Journal of Social Issue 55 (1): 81–99.Google Scholar
Committee on Civility of the Seventh Federal Judicial Circuit. 1992a. Interim Report of the Committee on Civility of the Seventh Federal Judicial Circuit. 143 F. R. D. 371.Google Scholar
Committee on Civility of the Seventh Federal Judicial Circuit. 1992b. Final Report of the Committee on Civility of the Seventh Federal Judicial Circuit. 143 F. R. D. 441.Google Scholar
Corr, Kelly P., and Madden, Patrick M., 1995. Goodbye, Rambo-Hello, Mr. Rogers For the Defense 37 (12): 8–14.Google Scholar
Cortina, Lilia M., and Magley, Vicki J. 2001. Retaliation in the Context of Interpersonal Mistreatment: The Dangers of Speaking Out. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Society, June 14–17, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Cortina, Lilia M., Magley, Vicki J., Williams, Jill Hunter, and Day Langhout, Regina. 2001. Incivility in the Workplace: Incidence and Impact, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. 6 (1): 64–80.Google Scholar
DiLorenzo, Louis P. 1992. Civility and Professionalism. New York State Bar Journal 68 (1): 8.Google Scholar
Eighth Circuit Gender Fairness Task Force. 1997. Final Report and Recommendations of the Eighth Circuit Gender Fairness Task Force. Creighton Law Review. 31 (1): 1–181.Google Scholar
Felstiner, William L. F, Abel, Richard L., and Sarat, Austin. 198081. The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming. Law and Society Review 15: 631–54.Google Scholar
Fiske, Susan T. 1993. Controlling Other People: The Impact of Power on Stereotyping. American Psychologist 48: 621–28.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Louise F. 1990. Assessing Strategies for Coping with Sexual Harassment: A Theoretical/Empirical Approach. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Women in Psychology, March, Tempe, Arizona.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Louise F., Shullman, Sandra, Bailey, Nancy, Richards, Margaret, Swecker, J., Gold, Yael, Ormerod, Alayne J., and Weitzman, Lauren. 1988. The Incidence and Dimensions of Sexual Harassment in Academia and the Workplace. Journal of Vocational Behavior 32: 152–75.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Louise F., Swan, Suzanne, and Fischer, Karla. 1995. Why Didn't She Just Report Him? The Psychological and Legal Implications of Women's Strategies for Responding to Sexual Harassment. Journal of Social Issues 51: 117–38.Google Scholar
French, John R. P., and Raven, Bertram. 1959. The Bases of Social Power. In Studies in Social Power, ed. Cartwright, D., 150–67. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Glaser, Barney F., and Strauss, Anselm L. 1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
Gruber, James E., and Bjorn, Lars. 1982. Blue-Collar Blues: The Sexual Harassment of Women Autoworkers. Work and Occupations 9 (3): 271–98.Google Scholar
Gruber, James E., and Bjorn, Lars. 1986. Women's Responses to Sexual Harassment: An Analysis of Sociocultural, Organizational, and Personal Resource Models. Social Science Quarterly 67: 814–26.Google Scholar
Guccione, Jean. 1997. Bar Leaders Take Aim at Incivility of “Rambo” Lawyers. Los Angeles Daily Journal, April 14, 1.Google Scholar
Gutek, Barbara A. 1985. Sex and the Workplace: Impact of Sexual Behavior and Harassment on Women, Men, and Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Gutek, Barbara A., and Morasch, Bruce. 1982. Sex-Ratios, Sex-Role Spillover, and Sexual Harassment of Women at Work. Journal of Social Issues 38: 55–74.Google Scholar
Hackett, Rick D. 1989. Work Attitudes and Employee Absenteeism: A Synthesis of the Literature. Journal of Occupational Psychology 62: 235–48.Google Scholar
Hansen, Mark. 1991. Incivility a Problem, Survey Says. ABA Journal 77: 22.Google Scholar
Hobfoll, Stevan E., Dunahoo, Carla L., Ben-Porath, Yossef, and Monnier, Jeannine. 1994. Gender and Coping: The Dual-Axis Model of Coping. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22: 49–82.Google Scholar
Honeywell, Mark G. 1994. How to Be on the Offensive without Being Offensive. Trial 30 (6): 86.Google Scholar
Huberman, Michael A., and Miles, Matthew. 1994a. Data Management and Analysis Methods. In Handbook of Qualitative Research, 428–44. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Huberman, Michael A., and Miles, Matthew. 1994b. Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Jöreskog, Karl and Sörbom, Dag. 1996. LISREL VIII: User's Reference Guide. Chicago: Scientific Software International.Google Scholar
Kay, Fiona M. 1997. Flight from Law: A Competing Risks Model of Departures from Law Firms. Law and Society Review 31: 301–55.Google Scholar
Koss, Mary P., Goodman, Lisa A., Browne, Angela, Fitzgerald, Louise F., Puryear Keita, Gwendolyn, and Felipe Russo, Nancy. 1994. No Safe Haven: Male Violence against Women at Home, at Work, and in the Community. Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Laband, David N., and Lentz, Bernard F. 1998. The Effects of Sexual Harassment on Job Satisfaction, Earnings, and Turnover among Female Lawyers. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 51: 594–607.Google Scholar
Lazarus, Richard S., and Folkman, Susan. 1984. Stress, Appraisal and Coping. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Lonsway, Kimberly A., Freeman, Leslie V., Cortina, Lilia M., Magley, Vicki J., and Fitzgerald, Louise F. 2002. Understanding the Judicial Role in Addressing Gender Bias: A View from the Eighth Circuit Federal Court System. Law & Social Inquiry 27(2): 205–233.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, Catherine. 1979. Sexual Harassment of Working Women. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
McMurry, Kelly. 1996. Lawyer Incivility: War Games or Bad Manners Trial 32: 10–12.Google Scholar
Miceli, Marcia P., and Near, Janet P. 1992. Blowing the Whistle: The Organizational and Legal Implications for Companies and Employees. New York: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Miceli, Marcia P., Rehg, Michael, Near, Janet P., and Ryan, Katherine C. 1999. Can Laws Protect Whistle-Blowers? Results of a Naturally Occurring Field Experiment. Work and Occupations 26: 129–51.Google Scholar
Near, Janet P., Dworkin, Terry M., and Miceli, Marcia P. 1993. Explaining the Whistle-Blowing Process: Suggestions from Power Theory and Justice Theory. Organization Science 4: 393–411.Google Scholar
Ninth Circuit Gender Bias Task Force. 1994. The Effects of Gender in the Federal Courts: The Final Report of the Ninth Circuit Gender Bias Task Force. Southern California Law Review 67: 745–1106.Google Scholar
Ostroff, Cheri. 1992. The Relationship Between Satisfaction, Attitudes, and Performance: An Organizational Level Analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology 77: 963–74.Google Scholar
Padavic, Irene, and Orcutt, James D. 1997. Perceptions of Sexual Harassment in the Florida Legal System: A Comparison of Dominance and Spillover Explanations. Gender and Society 11: 682–98.Google Scholar
Pierce, Jennfier L. 1995. Gender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Podgor, Ellen. 1996. Lawyer Professionalism in a Gendered Society. South Carolina Law Review 47 (2): 323–48.Google Scholar
Resnik, Judith. 1996. Asking about Gender in the Courts. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 21: 952–90.Google Scholar
Ring, Leonard M. 1992. The Incivility Crisis. Trial 29 (8): 78.Google Scholar
Schultz, Vicki. 1998. Reconceptualizing Sexual Harassment. Yale Law Journal 107: 1683–1805.Google Scholar
Sells, Benjamin. 1993. Looking in All the Wrong Places for Civility. Los Angeles Daily Journal, 106: 7.Google Scholar
Sidanius, James. 1993. The Psychology of Group Conflict and the Dynamics of Oppression: A Social Dominance Perspective. In Explorations in Political Psychology, ed. Lyengar, Shanto and McGuire, William J., 183–219. Durham, N. C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, John Stuart. 1997. Civility in the Courtroom from a Litigator's Perspective. New York State Bar Journal, May/June, 28–30.Google Scholar
Smith, Patricia C., Balzer, William K., Ironson, Gail H., Paul, Karen B., Bob Hayes, Sarah Moore-Hirschl, and Fernando Parra, Luis. 1992. Development and Validation of the Stress in General (SIG) Scale. Paper presented at the Seventh Annual Convention of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, May, Montreal, Canada.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Sherry E., and Bhagat, Rabi S. 1992. Organizational Stress, Job Satisfaction and Job Performance: Where Do We Go from Here Journal of Management 18: 353–74.Google Scholar
Tangri, Sandra S., Burt, Martha R., and Johnson, Leanor B. 1982. Sexual Harassment at Work: Three Explanatory Models. Journal of Social Issues 38: 33–54.Google Scholar
Tinkham, Thomas W. 1990. Incivility Revisited. Bench and Bar of Minnesota 47 (7): 5.Google Scholar
Wallis-Honchar, Cornelia. 1997. Right to Remain Silent Can Quiet Incivility. Chicago Daily Law Bulletin 143 (87): 5.Google Scholar
Women's Legal Defense Fund. 1991. Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. Washington, D. C.: Women's Legal Defense Fund.Google Scholar
Wright, Thomas. A., and Bonnett, Douglas G. 1993. Role of Employee Coping and Performance in Voluntary Employee Withdrawal: A Research Refinement and Elaboration. Journal of Management 19: 147–61.Google Scholar