hough O'Connor acknowledged that women have made some progress in career related issues over the past 30 years in a recent speech which she made, the Supreme Court Justice still does not believe that women are on equal footing with men in this area. In her speech, O'Connor cited statistics which showed that
while women represent as much as 30% of associates employed by a group of large law firms surveyed by The National Law Journal in 1984, only 5% of the partnership positions were occupied by women. [Moreover], [i]n Washington, fewer than 5 out of every 100 members of the 100th Congress are women. Fewer than 5% of the nation's judges are women.
This excerpt shows that O'Connor wishes that women would hold more professional positions in the field of law than they presently do, but, even today, O'Connor is careful to write her opinions in a way that do not reflect her deep seated personal commitment to women's issues in America.
Her personal commitment to women's issues probably stemmed from times when she was discriminated against based on gender. For instance, years ago, O'Connor herself was rejected by the major law firms. She continued her career, not as she had initially hoped, but instead, accepted a position as deputy county counsel for San Mateo County, California. There, she handled civil litigation for the public schools and county agencies. She then followed her husband to Frankfurt, Germany, as a dutiful Army wife. There, she worked for two years as a civilian attorney for the quartermaster corps. At the end of John O'Connor's military stint in 1957, they moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he opened a private law practice. From 1957 to 1965 she took time out from her professional career to give birth to three sons. In 1965, she accepted a position as an assistant attorney general for the state of Arizona. During these four years, she worked primarily in an office capacity, although she acquired some lit...