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Biography Mary Jane Mossman GENDER AND Professionalism IN Law: THE CHALLENGE OF (WOMEN’S) BIOGRAPHY Mary Jane Mossman* This paper explores the story of a woman who “created” her life in the law in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centur- ies. Although now almost unknown, Cornelia Sorabji achieved prominence as a woman pioneer in the legal profession, who pro- vided legal services to women clients in northern India, the Pur- dahnashins. Sorabji’s experiences as a woman in law were often similar to the stories of other first women lawyers in a number of different jurisdictions at the end of the nineteenth century: all of these women had to overcome gender barriers to gain admission to the legal professions, and they were often the only woman in law in their jurisdictions for many years. Yet, as Sorabji’s story reveals, while ideas about gender and the culture of legal profes- sionalism could present formidable barriers for aspiring women lawyers, these ideas sometimes intersected in paradoxical ways to offer new opportunities for women to become legal professionals. In exploring the impact of gender and legal professionalism on Sorabji’s legal work, the paper also suggests that her story presents 2009 CanLIIDocs 23 a number of challenges and contradictions that may require new approaches to gender history so as to capture the complexity of stor- ies about women lawyers. Cet article examine l’histoire d’une femme qui a «créé» sa vie dans le domaine du droit à la fin du dix-neuvième et au début du vingtième siècles. Quoique présentement presque inconnue, Cornelia Sorabji a acquis une certaine renommée comme femme pionnière dans la profession juridique qui offrait des services ju- ridiques à des femmes clientes dans le nord de l’Inde, les Pur- dahnashins. Les expériences de Mme Sorabji en tant que femme dans le domaine du droit ressemblaient souvent aux récits d’autres premières femmes avocates sur un nombre d’autres territoires à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle : ces femmes devaient toutes surmonter des barrières sexistes pour être admises à la profession juridique, et elles étaient souvent la seule femme à exercer le droit sur leur territoire pendant de nombreuses années. Pourtant, comme le fait voir l’histoire de Mme Sorabji, quoique les idées reliées au sexe de l’individu et la culture de professionnalisme légal pouvaient constituer des obstacles formidables pour les femmes qui aspiraient à devenir avocates, ces idées parfois se croisaient de manières pa- radoxales de façon à créer de nouvelles occasions aux femmes de devenir des professionnelles du droit. En examinant l’impact du sexe de l’individu et du professionnalisme légal sur le travail légal * Osgoode Hall Law School, York Unversty. Warm thanks to Mtra Sharafi and the Center for South Asa at the Unversty of Wsconsn-Madson for comments on an earler verson of ths paper, and to Karen Schucher for helpful comments about gender and professonalsm n law. (2009) 27 Wndsor Y.B. Access Just. 19 20 Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 2009 de Mme Sorabji, l’article suggère en plus que son histoire présente un nombre de défis et de contradictions qui pourraient nécessiter de nouvelles approches à l’histoire vue en rapport au sexe de l’individu afin de saisir la complexité des récits au sujet de femmes avocates. I. Telling the Stories of Women in Law The concept of bography... has changed profoundly n the last two decades, bographes of women especally so.... [Bographers] of women have had... to renvent the lves ther subjects led, dscoverng from what evdence they could find the processes and decsons, the choces and unque pan, that lay beyond the lfe stores of these women... because there were no models of the lves they wanted to lve, no exemplars, no stores.1 Ths paper explores the story of a woman who ‘created’ her lfe in the law in the late nneteenth and early twenteth centures. Although now almost unknown, Cornela Sorabj acheved promnence as a woman poneer in the legal profes- son who provded legal servces to women clents in northern Inda, the Pur- 2009 CanLIIDocs 23 dahnashins or women lvng in secluson. I [re]dscovered Sorabji in the context of a research project in whch I was tryng to unravel connectons between hs- torcal ideas about gender and about professonalsm in law, both of whch were n flux n a varety of dfferent ways at the end of the nneteenth century.2 Yet, although Sorabj’s lfe certanly revealed how ideas about gender and about legal professonalsm were often connected, her indvdual lfe story also challenged tradtonal approaches to the hstory of women’s entry to the legal professon. In a now-pognant conversaton wth Rose Voyvodc in 2006, I re- member explanng the challenges of tryng to tell Sorabj’s story, partcularly because gender was only one factor, albet a very important one, in creatng both constrants and opportuntes in Sorabj’s lfe. However, in addton to gender, her race and relgon, as well as the impact of Brtsh imperal polces in nne- teenth-century Inda, contrbuted to the nature and extent of ‘choces’ avalable to her. In spte of these challenges, Rose encouraged my efforts to untangle some of the puzzles in Sorabj’s lfe story, enthusastcally affirmng the need to “[re]tell the stores” of women in law, to [re]examne the paradoxes wthn professonal cultures, and to begn to create new models of women lawyers’ lves. So, in ths paper, in honour of Rose, I want to contnue our conversaton by brefly tellng the story of Cornela Sorabj and her legal work, and also provde some reflec- tons on the connectons between ideas about gender and legal professonalsm for Sorabj as a woman n law.3 1 Carolyn G. Helbrun, Writing a Woman’s Life (New York: Ballantyne Books, 1988) at 31. 2 Mary Jane Mossman, The First Women Lawyers: A Comparative Study of Gender, Law and the Legal Professions (Oxford and Portland OR: Hart Publshng, 2006), c. 5 [Mossman, Women Lawyers]. 3 Ths paper focuses manly on the gender factor in relaton to ideas about legal professonalsm, but some of the interrelatonshps wth other aspects of Sorabj’s identty(es) are dscussed in Mossman, Women Lawyers, supra note 2. In addton, see Antonette Burton, At the Heart of the Empire: Indians and the Colonial Encounter in Late-Victorian Britain (Berkeley: Unversty Vol. 27(1) Gender and Professionalism in Law 21 Clearly, Sorabj’s experences as a woman in law were often smlar to the stores of other first women lawyers in a number of dfferent jursdctons at the end of the nneteenth century. Wth “no exemplars, no stores:” all of these women had to overcome gender barrers to gan admsson to the legal professon, and many of them remaned isolated as the only woman in law in her jursdcton for many years.4 However, although ther indvdual experences were often shaped by the partculartes of ther socal and poltcal contexts, women who began to seek ad- msson to the legal professon in the late nneteenth and early twenteth centur- es dd so at tme when ideas about gender and about legal professonalsm were changng sgnficantly in many dfferent parts of the world. Thus, the decades just before and after the end of the nneteenth century wtnessed the emergence of women’s movements for equalty, whch focused not only on suffrage but also on sgnficant famly law reforms and the creaton of women’s access to hgher educa- ton and to the professons.5 In the same perod, moreover, there were important developments in the practcal arrangements for law, includng new knds of legal work, the establshment of unversty law schools, and the creaton of natonal and local bar assocatons; these changes were forgng a new sense of professonalsm in the law in a number of jursdctons.6 To some extent at least, it was the convergence of changng ideas about gender and about legal professonalsm that provded op- portuntes for indvdual women, lke Cornela Sorabj, to pursue ther aspratons 2009 CanLIIDocs 23 for legal work. In ths context, her story reveals not only how ideas about gender and legal professonalsm could present formdable barrers for asprng women lawyers, but also how these changng ideas sometmes intersected in paradoxcal ways to offer new opportuntes for women to become legal professonals. Yet, in the context of women’s entry to the legal professon, the story of Cor- nela Sorabj presents specal challenges. As in other Brtsh colones (ncludng Canada), women who aspred to enter the legal professon faced a sgnficant problem in the fact that Brtsh courts and the Brtsh Parlament contnued to reject women’s clams to become barrsters and solctors untl after World War of Calforna Press, 1998); Sonta Sarker, “Unruly Subjects: Cornela Sorabj and Ravnder Randhawa” n Sonta Sarker and Esha Nyog De, eds., Trans-Status Subjects: Gender in the Globalization of South and Southeast Asia (Durham: Duke Unversty Press, 2002); and Sukanya Banerjee, Imperial Diasporas and the Politics of Nation-Space: Indian Identities and Metropolitan Englishness (1855-1935) (Ph.D. Dssertaton, Unversty of Calforna, 2001) [unpublshed]. 4 See Mossman, Women Lawyers, supra note 2 for analyss of the “first women lawyers” in the Unted States, Canada, Brtan, New Zealand, Australa, and several countres of western Europe. There are also some hstorcal studes in Ulrke Schultz and Gsela Shaw, eds., Women in the World’s Legal Professions (Oxford: Hart Publshng, 2003). 5 For some analyses, see Chrstne Bolt, The Women’s Movements in the United States and Britain from the 1790s to the 1920s (Amherst: Unversty of Massachusetts Press, 1993); Lnda Kealey, ed., A Not Unreasonable Claim: Women and Reform in Canada 1880s to 1920s (Toronto: Women’s Educatonal Press, 1979); Meredth Borthwck, The Changing Role of Women in Bengal 1849- 1905 (Prnceton, N.J.: Prnceton Unversty Press, 1984); and Lous Frank, Essai sur la Condition Politique de la Femme: Etude de Sociologie et de Législation (Pars: Arthur Rousseau, 1892).
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