By Mira Arezina, Partner
Today it will be 113 years since International Women’s Day was first celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. 113 years may seem like a long time but how far have we actually come since the first celebration and more so, how far have women progressed in the legal profession?
In 1879 Eliza Orme was the first women in England to earn a law degree. However, the Law Society rejected her applicable to be admitted as a solicitor. Given that at this time we had a female monarch on the throne for 42 years it is difficult to think that women were still so greatly discriminated against.
In 1892, Cornelia Sorabji, a graduate from Bombay University, became the first women and first India national to study the postgraduate Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford University. However, she did not receive her degree until 1919 because she was a woman.
In 1914, in the case of Bebb v Law Society, the Court of Appeal held that women failed to fall within the definition of “persons” within the meaning of the Solicitors Act 1843 and were therefore not able to be admitted as solicitors. Furthermore, women were considered to have a “disability at common law” as, after marriage, they were not able to enter into contracts with third parties. This “disability” applied even to unmarried women as they were capable of being married.
In 1919 a major game changer took place. It wasn’t the fact that certain women could vote for the first time (this took place in 1918 and related only to those women who were over 30 and met various conditions such as being a registered property occupier or married to a registered property occupier of premises with a rateable value of more than £5 – this gave around 8.4 million women the right to vote) but the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act (“the 1919 Act”) came into force. The 1919 Act enabled women to receive their degrees, act as juries and as magistrates.
The 1919 Act was the trigger allowing women to be admitted as solicitors and barristers:
- In 1922, the first to be admitted as a solicitor was Carrie Morrison who once said that “men say the law is too rough and tumble for women”. Given that she was the first female solicitor, and there was a lot of resistance, I have no doubt it was made much harder for her than if she were a man
- In 1923 Agnes Twiston Hughes became the first solicitor to qualify in Wales.
- Various women were admitted to the Bar with the first female King’s Counsel in the United Kingdom, Margaret Kidd, in 1948. In 1949, Dame Rose Heilbron and Helena Normanton become the first two women appointed as King’s Counsel at the English bar. Dame Rose Heilbron was just 34 when she took silk.
Sadly Ms Bebb was not one of those admitted as a solicitor as she died before she could be admitted, at the age of 31 from complications during her second pregnancy.
I have been in law for many years and in that time I have seen substantial changes to the profession and its attitude towards women. I started my career in 1997, only two years after the Lord Chancellor’s Practice Direction enabled women to wear trousers in Court. I recall in 1997 it still being a very sexist and male orientated environment; I was told at one stage that, in order to be a partner, I would have to be a man. I also heard of one person who was asked, while in an interview for a training contract, whether she would consider abortion if she became pregnant during her training contract. None of this was surprising in the 1990’s, it simply made you more determined to prove them wrong.
I have heard from a few of my colleagues of their recollections in the “early days” and issues that they have had while in practice. One of my colleague’s, on qualification and following a successful hearing, was told that she only achieved this because she “batted her eyelids” at the judge. The sad thing was that it was a female barrister who said this. She also recalls being ignored by a judge simply because she was not properly dressed – she attended on a very last-minute urgent application relating to a domestic violence injunction and only had time to cover her brightly coloured dress with a coat.
The recollection of the “early days” by another of my colleagues, Kishoree Kotecha-Pau, an Equity Partner and joint head of the Criminal Department, are:
I was hit with a double whammy, not only am I a woman but I am a woman of colour. I left Leicester university with the same qualifications as my peers, majority of who got training contracts. I attended very unpleasant interviews, not disguising the racism or sexism until I got my break. I only ever wanted to be a criminal practitioner but had to practice crime and family (that’s what women lawyers were expected to do back then). At court, even though I would be ready first with my cases, I wouldn’t be called on till the end of the day. While at Sheratte Caleb, I not only became an equity partner at a young age, but I was the only female equity partner. During my time as equity partner, I had children and carried on working as normal. However, when I asked if I could start a little late (9.30 a.m.) to cover the school drop off, this was not allowed.
At Freemans, I have always been treated with respect. No one minded that I left the office at 5.00 to get home by 6.30 and then I worked late into the night. I have been very fortunate to get very good calibre work and on occasion have been co-defending with lawyers at Magic circle firms.
All those years of struggle and adversary made me even more determined to achieve my dreams. It helped that I worked alongside some amazing people, especially women, all of whom have inspired me so much.
Thankfully, the above are “experiences” that (hopefully) do not happen now-a-days, however, there is still a long way to go. It is estimated that around 65% of newly qualified solicitors are women and nearly 50% of all solicitors are at senior levels yet only 25% of women are partners. Equal pay is also an ongoing issue, with pay differentials said to exceed the national average.
At Freemans, our ethos is to respect our colleagues and nurture the next generation; whether you are female or male you are treated equally. This is what women have strived for – for no better or less treatment than a man.
Women are a great asset and contribution to any profession but in law we bring a balance, some may say that we bring compassion and empathy which, in this era of mediation as opposed to being adversarial, is more advantageous. I wonder what changes the next 20 years will bring.