Virginia Law Women Welcomes New Faces Amid the Flowers
The experience of womanhood is a struggle at the best of times. But dealing with being a woman while also trying to become a lawyer? That can send a gal right over the edge. Unfortunately, non-CAPS therapy is expensive, and while dropping America Ferrera’s monologue from Barbie (2023) mid-lecture might feel cathartic, your class is already behind schedule by three cases, so we really don’t have time for your righteous lamentations on the condition of the American woman right now.
Providing a close third-best coping strategy, Virginia Law Women (VLW) brought UVA Law’s female community together on Friday evening for its Annual Welcome Party. Featuring bouquet-making as the main event, VLW granted attendees the perfect opportunity to get their noses out of their textbooks long enough to stop and smell the literal roses.
Recovering sorority sisters might have felt a strong sense of nostalgia (or fear) walking into the backyard venue. Long, intentionally decorated tables spanned the yard, populated by bright-eyed 1Ls—still buzzing with the high of finally starting their Elle Woods eras—who were engaged in the time-honored game of “How many people do I need to say hi to here before I can go home, stuff some leftover Mellow Mushroom in my face, and muster the wherewithal to show up to my section pregame later?”
Meanwhile, 2Ls and 3Ls who had spent the previous summer slowly losing hope for women in the workplace dedicated themselves to greeting guests, keeping a watchful eye over the deep Pinot Grigio supply, and gripping their bundles of blossoms like they wished they were a pack of Camels. As these models of the modern girl-boss archetype looked upon the mirrors of the baby-faced girls they used to be and wondered where it all went wrong, it was clear that the spirit of sisterhood was present this evening.
Flower arranging as an art form has a rich history steeped in diverse traditions. Many cultures around the world have developed their own unique “language of flowers,” wherein each variety, and even color, of flower has a distinct meaning—often of an emotional nature. Indeed, it was clear that each sprig selected by the event’s guests was chosen with painstaking care to convey the feelings brimming within our tender, feminine hearts. Baby’s breath as a reminder of the youthful innocence that got thrown out the window after reading an especially heinous Criminal Law case. A delicate white daisy to embody the constant fragility of your mental state. A rose to symbolize how much you’d like to drive a thorn into the guy who followed up your answer to a question in class with the exact same idea and somehow got all the praise for understanding the legal principle at play.
Truly, the women of UVA Law could not have been happier to reconnect with those “emotion” things we all used to have through the magic of floriography, all while throwing down on sausage, cheese, and wine like they were preparing to invade Britannia with the Viking hordes. The well-stocked charcuterie selection available at the party was a welcome departure from the typical free food selections normally available at the Law School. In lieu of the distinctly unfeminine pizza and sandwich selection typically available to us, VLW’s spread featured a fine selection of crackers, salami, prosciutto, brie, and cheddar. One rumor, unlikely as it is, suggests that there may have even been some grapes and other fruits available at one point over the course of the evening. As every true Walter-Brown scavenger knows, though, it is illegal to serve a single fruit or vegetable dish at a UVA Law event.
We women law students have much to look forward to over the rest of our careers. Unintuitive dress codes, subtle manifestations of your supervisor’s sexism that are noticeable enough to be a problem but aren’t obvious enough to be reportable, and constant assumptions from your extended family that this whole attorney thing is just a temporary gig until you find a rich husband are just a few of the absolute joys that await us as we enter the professional world. Even though it is unlikely that any of those things will ever feel “okay,” leaving the VLW Annual Welcome Party, one got the sense that it might become just a little more bearable.
In a few years time, will the implicit biases that haunt us still be there? Yeah, absolutely. But you will also have a killer job, plenty of cash to wipe your tears with, and a cohort of bright women who stuck it out alongside you. And hey, if you’re going to fight an uphill battle for the rest of your life, you might at least get a little bouquet for your troubles.
Source: Author
Staff Editor — Emma Lawson ’28
hzk2ny@virginia.edu