cover image Still Unequal: The Shameful Truth about Women and Justice in America

Still Unequal: The Shameful Truth about Women and Justice in America

Lorraine Dusky. Crown Publishers, $27.5 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-517-59389-9

According to Dusky (How to Eat Like a Thin Person), our legal system is still fundamentally prejudiced against women, despite some reforms achieved by feminists over the last 30 years. In this interesting but overly ambitious analysis, she examines the ways in which law schools contribute to an antiwoman atmosphere by allowing professors to ignore their female students in class, by continuing to use biased law texts and by refusing to grant tenure to women law professors. Drawing on both studies and anecdotal evidence, Dusky describes how the majority of law firms exclude women lawyers from power and often deny them partnerships--and how some foster an atmosphere of sexual harassment. Also included is the author's investigation of the way women's issues such as divorce, rape and domestic violence are treated in the courts. Unfortunately, Dusky doesn't offer a comprehensive treatment of all these subjects. (Nov.)