Analysis and proposals of women in the legal sector to promote gender equality in Guatemala

Insight
29 Mar 2022
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We explore the impact of bias, lack of flexible work and the gender pay gap as obstacles to gender equality in the Guatemalan legal profession in this joint report.
Three women and a man in conversation, sat around a table

We launched our International Women in Law programme in 2018 to support efforts to increase gender equality within the international legal profession.

In 2019, we published our global report: Advocating for change: transforming the future of the legal profession through greater gender equality.

The report showcased the significant contribution of women lawyers to the profession but highlighted a lack of data.

To tackle this, we began implementing research projects in several jurisdictions, with support from law societies, bar associations, firms and in-house counsel.

The first report of this kind focuses on Guatemala and explores three aspects identified as obstacles to gender equality in the legal profession:

  • bias (conscious and unconscious)
  • lack of flexible work
  • the gender pay gap

Our findings outline the presence of traditional mindsets on the role of women, which seriously limits their opportunities.

Micro-machismos, microaggressions, stereotypes, manipulation, and violence contribute to perpetuate this traditional role and foster discrimination and exclusion.

This report is a joint effort with Aguilar Castillo Love, BLP Legal, Dentons Muñoz, UN Women Guatemala, and the British Embassy in Guatemala.

Our research project consisted of three phases:

  • a national survey, 93 respondents took part
  • 14 roundtables with 94 Guatemalan women lawyers from different regions
  • the final report

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