Women in the Academic Community
The treatment of women as serious members of the academic community has also improved in general terms, although this should not disguise the real differences among law schools. There are, at a number of larger schools, a critical mass of feminist teachers, enabling the introduction of serious feminist content and pedagogy. Female professors now teach in mainstream, black letter" courses, others in social perspective types of courses, and of course, some in both. Other schools are not as fortunate and life for feminists is a constant strain, either in the vulnerability of their positions as contract appointments or in the isolation they experience.

There are also female deans of law, and two law schools (New Brunswick and the University of British Columbia) have recently established Chairs of Women and Law. As the Chair at New Brunswick, part of my responsibility is to enhance feminist analysis and perspectives in the curriculum and in pedagogy. The establishment of the Chair reflects the faculty's recognition of the need to change the law school. On the other side, it is vital that members of the faculty do not use the Chair to avoid their responsibility to reconsider their own views, conduct, and courses.

Women as Students
The experience for female students is also different from what it was. Again, numbers have played a highly significant part here since the law schools now have approximately 50% female students. (It mayor may not be significant that there has been a decline at some schools in female first year enrolment over the last year or two.)

Teachers are becoming more conscious that the classroom experience may be different for women than men. Efforts are made to encourage women to participate. More care is taken by some professors in teaching about law on domestic violence, sexual harassment, pornography or rape. Women may be able to call on escorts to walk to bus stops, parking lots or residences on campus. Washrooms and the library stacks may be patrolled in response to demands that women need to feel and be safe as students. Law schools now expect that professors and students will use gender-neutral language and exhibit non-sexist behaviour. Nevertheless, there are still offensive incidents and there are professors in almost all schools who are notorious for their misogyny - and still retain their positions and prestige.

Potential for Change
Feminist, gender-related, or in broader and more inclusive terms equity concerns are more and more treated as legitimate. During the summer of 1992, I attended the thirteenth Law Teaching Clinic which is funded by law deans across Canada. Feminist pedagogy was a specified topic and, quite apart from that, diversity constituted a major aspect of the week's discussion and workshops.

In writing this piece I wanted to celebrate the changes and the potential for change. It would be a distorted view, however, if I left the impression that all is moving forward at a consistent pace. The experience of being a woman in a law school, whether professor or student, can be harrowing, painful, and alienating (8). Still, I leave this message: we have found our voices to announce our presence and to begin to transform the legal world. And our voices are getting stronger.

Dr. Patricia Hughes is the Mary Louise Lynch Chair in Women and the Law at the University of New Brunswick.