Occupational and Mental Health Consequences of Women's Experiences of Gender Discrimination and Negative Workplace Acts in the Legal Profession

Abstract

Women have been entering the legal profession increasingly over the last three decades, yet continue to leave the profession at significantly greater rates than men. Previous research has documented the influence of workplace discrimination in influencing women's entry and retention in the legal profession, but less research attention has been directed toward the occupational and mental health consequences for these women. The present study examined whether negative acts in the workplace, gender discrimination, and work-life conflict were associated with negative occupational and mental health consequences for women lawyers. Questionnaires containing measures of negative acts in the workplace, gendered elements of the work environment, work-family conflict, job satisfaction, burnout, and mental health symptoms were mailed to a stratified random sample of Canadian women lawyers, resulting in a sample of 277 women lawyers from Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Findings supported our hypothesis that negative workplace experiences, including gender discrimination, would predict lower levels of job satisfaction and greater levels of burnout in women lawyers. In terms of mental health outcomes, work-life conflict emerged as the strongest predictor of perceived stress and anxiety, while negative workplace acts significantly predicted depression. The findings of this study highlight the importance of addressing negative acts and gender discrimination in the legal profession in order to increase women's job satisfaction and to safeguard their health and well-being.