Seeking Yoda: Mentoring Women Legal Academics

Abstract

Writing in 1994, Clark conmiented that 'Notwithstanding the fact that mentoring is quite common, there has been comparatively little written about it') At this point in 2002, it may be more pertinent to ask whether there is really anything new to say? There are now a number of basic mentoring handbooks available, many of which are listed in the bibliography. There are informative websites, and the number of universities that have run mentoring programs, judging by the published reports, is numerous. However, there are many variations in what is encompassed under the "mentoring" banner, so it is vital to this discussion of mentoring for female academics to define the parameters of mentoring, the roles of the mentor and mentorees, and also to look at the background against which the perceived need for mentoring of female academics has arisen in law schools. A mentoring scheme for female academics from the Faculties of Law and Arts was conducted at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 2000/2001. This scheme has been evaluated, and this paper tests the perceived outcomes of the scheme against the range of proposed objectives. It has also provided an opportunity for the organisers to compile a basic program that is transferable to other mentoring schemes involving varied cohorts such as students and practitioners.