Women in law denotes the role enacted by women in legal profession. Lawyers are also known as legal counselors, advocates, attorneys, barristers, solicitors, prosecutors and paralegals, and also acknowledged as Judges, Law Professors, Legal Scholars, Law School Deans and Feminist Legal Theorists.
A 30 percent representation of women in the legal profession is the yardstick for significant social change and studies have showed that 52 countries have now attained that threshold. Venezuela and Uruguay were the countries first off the block, achieving the mark as early as the 1980s.
By the mid or late 2000s, women made up the 50 percent of the lawyer population in countries such as Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Latvia. Countries such as Denmark, Norway, Germany and the US came to the party late to achieve the threshold mark during the same period.
But sadly, the world’s two most populace countries, China and India, only have a legal representation by women of 20 and 5 percent respectively.
Feminisation of Judges in China
An interesting phenomenon can now be observed in China; while most Chinese law firms are filled with male lawyers, there is a significant portion of female judges in the Chinese judicial system. This is a huge turnaround from the 1980s, when only men dominated the judicial system, both in the private and the public sectors.
In 2007, female lawyers accounted for less than 20 percent of the total number of Chinese lawyers. In 2012, that number jumped to 26.6 percent and in 2010, it was estimated that there were 45,000 female judges in the Chinese judicial system, a number rising faster than the rate of increase for female lawyers. In general, Chinese women seem to prefer working in courts rather than in law firms.
Impact of COVID Pandemic on Women Lawyers
As per a 2020 report on women in workplace by McKinsey/LeanIn.org, ominously revealed that 25 percent of women in the profession are contemplating the unthinkable; either downgrading their career or to quit the work totally. While this was was before the pandemic onset, it is now worse, especially for women with children; they now stand at one in three in favour of quitting.
The most pessimistic prediction in the aforementioned report is that progress by women could be set back by 5 years, which would result in fewer women taking the mantle of leadership or far fewer in future leaderships. According to the study, everything achieved in the past 6 years could be wiped away. The Bureau of Labour Statistics says that women in the legal profession have been exiting the industry since the onset of COVID and the percentage is more than that of men. Even more challenges are in store for women as the world emerges from the pandemic.
Today’s new generation of women lawyers may not face the discrimination of old in the legal industry because globalisation has been a mitigating factor. It has eliminated the stereotyping of women in the legal profession and helped them to move to bigger organisations, where they will occupy influential positions and have their voice heard. However, there is still a fair amount of male domination in the legal industry because women choose specialties, such as taking up corporate laws and functions. This helps them balance their professional and personal lives.
Growing technology has also helped women navigate unchartered waters; tech companies have been immensely helpful in this matter, by being flexible and inclusive. Women lawyers of the present enjoy more freedom and are self-determined to carry on both professional and personal lives in a very balanced way.
Despite the challenges, women lawyers have a great future, mainly as the result of technology and diversity of demand.
DISCLAIMER
This article is intended solely for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Although the information in this article was obtained from reliable, official sources, no guarantee is made with regard to its accuracy and completeness. For more information please visit dandreapartners.com or WeChat: dandreapartners
