Law unto themselves
An ad featuring a sultry Hollywood star dressed provocatively inviting female law students to ‘‘network’’ their way to the top is labelled demeaning and sexist.
AN AD featuring a sultry Hollywood star dressed in a provocative schoolgirl outfit inviting female law students to ‘‘network’’ their way to the top is demeaning and sexist, say women lawyers.
The latest edition of student magazine Lex, published by the New Zealand Law Students’ Association, shows actress Blake Lively in character as private school girl Serena An der Woodsen from US television show Gossip Girl standing in a provocative stance.
It comes with the tagline: ‘‘She didn’t become a good lawyer by spending hours in the library . . . She networked her way to the top.’’
The ad then invites law students to ‘‘Join the NZLSA Facebook page. NOW.’’
But the LSA insists the ad is satirical despite receiving international condemnation on social media.
The advertisement was reposted on US-based Facebook page ‘‘Wipeout Sexism on FB’’ this week, drawing immediate reaction.
Many asked whether Lively had given her permission for the image to be used, while others criticised New Zealand’s attitude to gender equality.
‘‘OMG, I can’t believe that’s my country, how shameful,’’ Geraint Scott posted.
‘‘I was not aware that see-through shirts and cleavage was the trademark of a good lawyer in New Zealand. Apparently I have a lot to learn about their judicial system,’’ posted Majken Aune Olsen.
Professor Margaret Wilson, a former attorney-general and current deputy dean of Waikato law school, said that the advert was ‘‘so disrespectful of women law students who, in my experience, work so hard to achieve their law degrees’’.
Tracey Bowell, who lectures in morals and ethics at Waikato University, said the ad was ‘‘absolutely’’ sexist and demeaning towards women.
‘‘I doubt that an image of a male law student would be used in similar fashion,’’ she said.
Associate Professor of Law Anna Grear said the advertisement was ‘‘insulting to the bright young women I have the privilege to teach.
‘‘As an academic responsible for teaching many bright young female law students, I am truly sad to see their efforts as students, their sheer intellectual talent and all their hard work diminished in this way by the very group who should be defending them from the
Lex undoubted sexism that still exists in the profession.’’
But NZLSA president Seamus Woods said that, although he was not involved in the ad’s design, it was intended to be ‘‘eye-catching’’.
‘‘It was not intended to be taken seriously; and had a target audience of students, which is perhaps a more robust audience than usual,’’ he said.
The advert had been made two years ago to promote the launch of the NZLSA Facebook page. ‘‘The NZLSA believes that it has a strong mandate to represent female law students and that it does so effectively and earnestly.’’
The former editor of Lex Magazine (2011), Canterbury lawyer George McLellan, said the offending advertisement was a piece of satire based on a 2010 advertisement by Lexis Nexis that was criticised at the time for being sexist.
‘‘We always understood the irony behind the advert, we always understood that 75 per cent of law students are women, and we always intended on punishing Lexis for their short-sightedness.’’
The Household Economic Survey shows a huge disparity in pay, with 259,500 men earning $80,000 or more while only 92,500 women earned the same.