Response # 31

There are many issues that exist with the work place and balancing the family life in the legal profession for women and men. Women who enter into the legal field attempting to be the best associate they can be often times have to sacrifice a lot of family values in their own homes. They are able to be home for their children when they arrive to the house from school. Sometimes they have to miss their children’s events because they have important meetings in the firm that they cannot get out of. It also can bring a lot of tension into the household with husbands and wives. When a wife is an associate at a large firm and the husband has a more structured job where he works the regular 9 to 5, while the wife is working away the long hours at the firm, can make for a lot of tension. This does not allow healthy relationships for the mother, father, or the children in the household. Some solutions that have been tried to help these situations were more flexible hours or the acceptance of women working only part-time. There is also the possibility that women are able to work from home due to the technology that exists in the world today. However, this is not highly praised. Many male counterparts believe that it is unfair for their female counterparts to be able to have such flexible schedules while there demand is still high when they often times have families as well. It is hard for large firms to make exceptions for some associates while holding other to such firm guidelines. Therefore, women are expected to work the same hours as male associates and have the same workload as male associates. This makes a female have to sacrifice many things in order to live their dream career.