Our International Women in Law programme aims to ensure greater equality for female lawyers in the legal sector globally.
We carry out research and publish reports to help steer our approach to supporting aspiring and qualified lawyers to progress in their careers free from stigma, exclusion and violence.
We’ve held International Women in Law roundtables in over 40 different jurisdictions.
Our International Women in Law Core Group meets quarterly to discuss key developments, and we work closely with Law Society office holders on projects.
Combined with other initiatives, such as training and public awareness campaigns, we hope to create the conditions for long-term change to end gender inequality in the legal sector.
Our aims
The programme aims to increase gender equality within the legal profession in a consistent, systematic and structured way, by creating solidarity links and collaborating on projects globally.
It also aims to promote greater participation and leadership of women in the sector and generate good practices that can be shared with other sectors experiencing similar challenges.
What we’re doing
We launched our practical toolkit for women in law, researched and written in conjunction with Bates Wells.
The joint report:
- reinforces the findings of the 2019 report that there are still considerable challenges for women’s progression in the legal profession
- suggests a series of activities that can help strengthen the work of organisations to support women in the law
This report was researched and written under extraordinary circumstances created by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
We held our first International Women in Law roundtable in Costa Rica alongside regional law firm BLP, where we shared the findings of our international women’s roundtables.
We also presented the International Women in Law programme and the Advocating for Change report to the OECD’s Friends of Gender Equality Group.
We assisted with the second and third International Women in Law roundtables in Port Elizabeth and Durban (South Africa).
We undertook the first International Women in Law roundtable in Poland in conjunction with the Krakow Bar Association.
We undertook a mission to Croatia to meet with a wide range of stakeholders and hold an International Women in Law roundtable.
We published a report summarising the findings from our England and Wales men-only roundtables. The participating male leaders made recommendations to tackle gender imbalance.
Get involved
Download the Women in Leadership in Law toolkit
Download the Male Champions for Change toolkit
Find out how to host your own roundtable
Follow us on Twitter @LSHumanRights
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