More than half of NH Bar Association members say they are satisfied with practicing law in New Hampshire, but when the numbers are broken down by race and ethnicity and gender, the story is somewhat different.
That’s according to a newly released report from the NH Bar Foundation, which conducted a survey of over 1,700 Bar members last year.
According to the findings, 57 percent of all respondents reported being satisfied, but broken down by gender, a far larger percentage of men say they are “extremely satisfied” (41 percent) than women (33 percent).
A larger share of women (60 percent) said they are “satisfied” with their job, as opposed to 55 percent of men.
On the other side of the question, a larger percentage of women (4 percent) said they are “dissatisfied” with their job. For men, the “dissatisfied” percentage is 1 percent. Only 10 respondents said they were “extremely dissatisfied” — six women and four men.
When it comes to BIPOC attorneys, the numbers are somewhat similar. Some 38 percent of all white attorneys said they are “extremely satisfied” with their job, while 30 percent of BIPOC attorneys agree. However, 60 percent of BIPOC attorneys say they are “satisfied,” as compared to 57 percent of white attorneys who agree.
As for the other end of the spectrum, 8 percent of BIPOC attorneys said they were “dissatisfied” with their job, as compared to 4 percent of white attorneys. One BIPOC attorney said they were “extremely dissatisfied,” while nine white attorneys said they were.
When it comes to racial discrimination, BIPOC women rated their experience at 2.56 out of 5.0 and BIPOC men at 2.23. For white men, it was 1.43 and for white women it was 1.23.
As for how satisfied the respondents were when it came to diversity at their own workplace, most women and men say they are satisfied, but a significantly larger percentage of men (78 percent) than women (59 percent) said they either were “satisfied” or “extremely satisfied.” Some 40 percent of women said they were either “dissatisfied” or “extremely dissatisfied,” compared to 22 percent of men.
Interestingly, the percentage of attorneys of diverse ethnicity expressed a similar satisfaction percentage (70 percent were either “satisfied” or “extremely satisfied”) as their white counterparts (69 percent) when it comes to diversity at their own workplace. The same was true when it comes to dissatisfaction with workplace policies, with 30 percent of BIPOC attorneys and 31 percent of white attorneys either “dissatisfied” or “extremely dissatisfied.” — JEFF FEINGOLD
