And they drew some delightful pictures to demonstrate this
Nearly two thirds of children that took part in a charming art-based study decided to draw lawyers as men — and Legal Cheek has cute pictures to prove it.
Over 100 seven to 11 year-olds took part in the study, and 65% of them drew lawyers as male. Though on its face a pretty big divide, law was actually the most gender balanced of the professions: 80% drew bankers as male, 81% drew nurses as female, and a whopping 88% drew builders as male.
It’s easy to draw profound conclusions from this data. For the most part, law firms and chambers are actually more heavily dominated by women, showing a distinct disconnect between the views of children and the reality of the profession. What is true, however, is that the more high-profile lawyers — partners, QCs and judges — tend to be male, and this may well have influenced the children’s drawings.
Oliver Watson — executive board director for UK and North America of the company behind the study — commented:
While these drawings might seem like a fairly light-hearted way to examine the topic of gender diversity, they are a worrying indication that children are still associating certain job roles with specific genders. This early-age stereotyping will likely impact the roles, industries and positions they look at as adults.
But there may well be other explanations. The youngsters may have simply opted for the gender that they felt most comfortable drawing.
Whatever you take from the study, the drawings are undeniably cute. Of the four lawyer pics (which we have included in this article), the artists have hit the nail on the head when it comes to fashion sense — all of them are dressed in smart, plain clothing. 75% are wearing ties, and the same percentage are carrying briefcases.
Legal Cheek particularly appreciates the drawing pictured below, which features a bag inscribed with the word ‘private’, and a Charlotte Proudman-esque fringe.
Finally, Legal Cheek couldn’t resist having a go for ourselves:
