Sunday, August 20, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006 Frustration from a mostly male workplace led one woman to seek change. By JOYCE GANNON SCRIPPS HOWARD On a late spring evening, about 75 professional women gathered on the top floor of a skyscraper in downtown Pittsburgh for a quick lesson in salsa dancing and Latino-theme food. But those invited to this casual networking session, one in a series called Chicks & Chat, did engage in some actual business. Several women were chosen at random to present a short pitch about their company or nonprofit group. Beth Slagle, a partner at law firm who has organized three such Chicks & Chat events, said the goal is for women to forge relationships with other females who can lend support to their careers. She selects a theme like the recent "Sizzling Salsa" or "Indulgence" (for a session that will feature manicures and massages) to infuse a more fun approach into traditional networking meetings. "I call it networking with a twist. We didn't want the typical, boring mingling of professionals ... and with men it would be more stifled," said Slagle, 42, who describes herself as "not the typical blue suit type of lawyer." She is one of three female law partners at her 60-attorney firm and heads the firm's diversity committee. Besides addressing issues about advancing women in her firm, Slagle wanted to broaden the firm's outreach to female clients. She launched Chicks & Chat after compiling a list of women from business, nonprofits, education and the arts whom she considered "really dynamic, and I wanted them to know each other." Her company paid for the network's first three events and will do so until the group becomes significantly larger. Then participants may be asked to pick up a share of the costs. "The firm recognizes we need to do something about diversity," said Slagle. "They're very supportive." Room for change She joined the firm fresh out of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1990 and learned quickly that sex discrimination was still prevalent in the legal profession. "Most of it is unintentional prejudice. But males give work to the individuals they think they'll have a bond with, and bonds often emanate from sports talk. So the males get the good work. And often, older males don't relate to younger women." Three months into her job, she sought out a mentor. "I knew I needed someone brilliant and who would provide protection." Her mentor was the chair of the firm's litigation department and happened to be a male. At the time, "There were no female role models here. One woman who was a partner left shortly after I started." With her mentor's support, she developed a specialty in business litigation, employment law and insurance-coverage cases. Although attitudes about women in law have improved since she started out in the early 1990s, Slagle said there are still subtle forms of discrimination that will take years to erase. "When there are several women talking in the hallway, it's called a 'hen party.' Or women are frequently labeled as 'secretaries.' I took a male summer associate to a status conference and the judge immediately thought he was the lead attorney." After "fighting my own battles for 16 years," Slagle came up with Chicks & Chat because "I thought it was important enough to do it publicly and provide younger females with something to go forward on. I wanted to build something for them."