Innovative teaching methods to mainstream gender equality in legal education

Abstract

In many countries, data show that women are slowly outnumbering men in law schools. Nonetheless, accounts of American law schools often report that women find law school a hostile atmosphere. Further women remain significantly under-represented in positions of leadership and power across sectors of the profession.

Legal education has followed different paths in different countries to cope with this reality. So, while US law schools have developed specific program to transform legal education by opening spaces for feminist legal scholarship and have created research centers specifically devoted to Women’s and Gender’s studies, this appears far from possible in Europe, where law schools maintain a very traditional curriculum.

This article aims at investigating the differences between legal education in the US and Europe, shedding light on the various initiatives taken, to incorporate gender awareness into legal education.

The final goal will be to examine innovative legal teaching methods to achieve mainstreaming gender equality in legal education.