Women in legal professions: an integrative literature review

Abstract

This paper discusses the insertion of women with law degree in the labour market, in order to analyze the working conditions, specially the daily difficulties and the barriers faced throughout their careers. A total of 14 articles were selected — published anytime, in any language — on the website Portal de Periódicos Capes, combining research terms such as “mulheres nas profissões jurídicas”, “gênero”, “questões de gênero”, “mercado de trabalho”, “carreira jurídica”, “estereótipos”, “mulheres nas carreiras jurídicas”, “desigualdade de gênero” and “atuação feminina no mundo jurídico”. The selected publications were organized and analyzed in five categories: legal job´s distribution between men and women; difficulties and steryotypes in the daily work; reports about the legal journey; barriers to rise to top positions on the judiciary; and conciliation between professional and private lives. The review indicated that, although women compose the majority in law school, there is a lack of feminine representation in the highest legal positions, which is justified by gender stereotypes. This type of research is important to law’s students qualification and to the development of a critic view about gender inequalities in the legal field.