Battling built-in biases

If you are a woman in legal practice – or if you simply want to know the state of play for women in the profession today – then this book is for you. Twelve chapters written by insider experts and illuminated by personal experience and interview data demonstrate both how far women have come even since the book’s first edition in 2017 and what challenges still (almost unbelievably) remain.

Perhaps the most interesting detail lies in the up-to-date statistics on women’s participation, status and choices, as well as the research findings of the continuing discrimination they face. The most significant lesson we can take is the recognition that earlier feminist strategies have proved insufficient to achieve equality and justice for women in the face of masculine resistance and retained power; that things are still hard for women in law. 

We learn that female barristers earn just over half what male barristers earn, and ethnic minority barristers less; that only 21% of KCs are female; and that, while women now form a majority of solicitors, they make up less than a third of full-equity partners. Women still perform most caregiving and homemaking duties, and all too often end up doing the bulk of the firm’s ‘housework’ as well. 

The book takes intersectional theory – the recognition that it is not just our sex but other, intersecting factors that define us and ‘justify’ our different treatment – as the starting point for both a deeper, more nuanced analysis of women’s position. It offers practical strategies to women in a whole range of intersectional positions. 

There are chapters directed at ethnic minority and older women, those who are neurodiverse or working-class, women at different points in their careers, those from non-standard educational backgrounds or looking for a non-traditional route into the profession, those in leadership roles or aiming for partnership, and those simply seeking a change in their working conditions. 

The book is truly comprehensive. Qualification through CILEX and the SQE is explained and assessed. The ‘non-linear’ path into law, so often a feature of women’s working lives, is considered by Melanie Arens, founder of Later On Lawyers, while Rachel Brushfield, founder of EnergiseLegal, proposes a shift into consultancy as a fulfilling and lucrative alternative to the conventional law firm.  

The authors make no effort to define ‘women’ but, by implication, take a sex-based approach. What is clear is that the greatest discrimination is faced by mothers, who are penalised when they take maternity leave, when they try for a work-life balance, or because their commitment to the firm is seen to be suspect because of their dual responsibilities. Of course, it is the female’s potential for childbearing, together with the gendered attributes associated with this, that lies at the heart of all sex discrimination; all women suffer in consequence of this association. Several chapters describe the ‘double-bind’ that women face: those who act assertively and confidently are damned as arrogant (unfeminine), while those who display emotion and prioritise teamwork are considered weak (too feminine).  These biases are built, consciously or unconsciously, into recruitment and promotion processes, and even (as we learn in a very useful chapter) into AI systems.  The role of ‘culture’ in working against women is also dissected: that is, the milieu in which male success is facilitated by men’s relative freedom from domestic duties, freeing them to work long hours and network in ‘boys’ club activities’.  

We conclude, therefore, that it is still not easy for women in law. It is harder than ever to get into the profession – and harder still for candidates from outside the narrow demographic and educational backgrounds still favoured by employers. As an academic, I know that far, far too many students choose to study law at university in the confident hope that it will gain them entry into a legal career. Far too many universities capitalise on this dream by taking more and more students who have no hope whatsoever of achieving it, not necessarily because they lack the ability, but because the openings are simply not there, or not open to them. 

This book goes part of the way towards explaining the obstacles that stand in their way, but, written as it is by women who have nevertheless succeeded in overcoming them, presents a more affirmative picture of a profession that is slowly, reluctantly, adapting to change. 

Where firms have introduced inclusive policies and affirmative actions, these are noted and celebrated, but I doubt that they add up to a transformed environment for women. Where this book is most valuable, perhaps, is in the recognition that the strategies proposed – which go well beyond the mere ‘self-help’ type to real institutional reform and changes expected of men – are based on a full and informed understanding of what we face today; but also on the knowledge that every advance for a disadvantaged group is followed by a reaction from those in power, who will do everything they can in order to retain their dominant position.  

Rosemary Auchmuty is professor of law emerita, at the University of Reading