| From Lawyer to Judge: Advancement, Sex, and Name-Calling |
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A paper provides the first empirical test of the Portia Hypothesis: females with masculine monikers are more successful in legal careers Utilizing South Carolina microdata, the researchers have looked for correlation between an individual's advancement to a judgeship and his/her name's masculinity, which we construct from the joint empirical distribution of names and gender in the state's entire population of registered voters. They find robust evidence that nominally masculine females are favored over other females. Hence, our results support the Portia Hypothesis. Coffey, Bentley and McLaughlin, Patrick A., From Lawyer to Judge: Advancement, Sex, and Name-Calling (January 25, 2009).
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