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No conclusions of any value can be drawn from that rate of response.

BUT:

Allocation of work? I am a solicitor. When I send a brief to Ms A or Ms B I am allocating the work, and it's nobody's job to second guess me. If Ms A or Ms B cannot take it then I expect to be asked to whom I want to allocate it instead, and it may not be in the same Chambers.

Rent-free after maternity leave? Why not after illness or any other absence? Why should the other members of the set pay her rent for her?

And if 37% of the practicing Bar is female: by the time you allow for those who take some years out, by choice or otherwise, with young children, and the subset of those who never go back, that's probably as good as it is going to get. I would like to see what proportion of applicants for pupillage and tenancy are female; it may well be about 40% too.Biology is biology, and its a way of life which will appeal to fewer women than it does to men.