Media Credit: Ryan Heidt [Click to enlarge]

Margaret Brent lived in a male dominated world where men outnumbered women 6 to 1, females had no voting rights, and formal schooling for girls was a rarity. Colonial America in the mid-seventeenth century was oppressive for women to say

the least.



Brent helped evolve the perception of women with her tenacious spirit and pioneering attitude. She is widely considered to be the first female lawyer in America and one of the best lawyers of her time - she won each of the 124 court cases she was involved in. Brent has also been called the first North American feminist, one of the first great businesswomen in America, and she was the first female in Maryland to own property.



Women are still fighting for firsts 360 years after Brent began her law career. The Commission on Women in the Profession awarded Betty Roberts, a University Alumna, the Margaret Brent award last year for being the first woman



appointed to the Oregon Court of Appeals, and later the first female to serve on the Oregon Supreme Court. The commission was founded by the American Bar Association in 1987, and Hillary Rodham Clinton served as the first chair.



A new Margaret is now leading the way, and at the University's School of Law the percentage of women in many areas is well ahead of the national curve. When Margaret L. "Margie" Paris became the new dean in 2006 she was the first female dean of a law school in Oregon, and for the first time in the school's 123-year history, she heads a law school whose entire senior leadership positions are all filled by women. Three associate deans report to Paris: Susan Gary, academic affairs; Jane Gordon, student and program affairs; and Jamie Moffitt, finance and operations.

"Academia has been faster to jettison some of the sexist notions in the practice," Paris said. "Academia is also one of the places where women can strive."

At the School of Law, women are squashing the old role of male dominance in the profession, and are one of the groups leading the nation toward equality in academia. Women make up 46 percent of the full-time faculty, 18 of the 39 positions, while the national average in 2006 was 36 percent according to a study by the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.

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