The Status of Women Lawyers in the United Kingdom

McGlynn, C.M.S.

Abstract

Almost a century after women were ‘let in’ to the profession of law in the United Kingdom, they generally remain marginalised, underrepresented and under-paid (McGlynn 1998, Sommerlad and Sanderson 1998). It was only in 1919 that the legislature adopted the Sex Discrimination (Removal) Act which finally allowed women to practise as lawyers, overturning the common law decisions which had declared them unfit to take up public office (Sommerlad and Sanderson 1998: 51–117). The years following 1919 showed that although the formal bar to women’s participation in the legal profession had been removed, informal barriers remained; and it is such informal practices which continue to limit women’s opportunities. The aim of this overview is to detail the extent of the progress made by women lawyers in the UK at the turn of the twentieth century. An account is given, largely in statistical terms, of the increasing representation of women in many fields of legal activity, together with detail of the areas in which women remain under-represented and marginalised.

Citation

McGlynn, C. (2003). The Status of Women Lawyers in the United Kingdom. In U. Schultz, & G. Shaw (Eds.), Women in the World’s Legal Professions. Hart Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472559395.ch-009

• Publication Date: 2003
• Publisher: Hart Publishing
• Book Title: Women in the World’s Legal Professions
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472559395.ch-009