08/03/2021
The 8th of March marks International Women’s Day. It’s a significant day that often sparks conversation surrounding equality, gendered issues and celebrating the positive impact women have had in different aspects of our daily lives.
Today Platinum Lawyers participates in celebrating the women who have touched our lives, but more relevantly, celebrating every single woman in law.
Up until quite recently in modern history, nearly every industry was male dominated, and the legal profession was no exception. Now, women make up just over half of the legal profession. The Queensland Law Society Annual Report 2018-19 states of the 10,607 members, 52% are women. At Platinum Lawyers we pride ourselves on equal opportunity, with 50% of our legal team being women.
The collective hard work and determination of women to change those statistics in such a relatively short period of time is no small feat and is deserving of praise.
With various other historically male dominated professions remaining a ‘boys club’ (Engineering roughly 12%, Computer Science roughly 26% to name a few), we can’t help but feel incredibly proud of how far the legal profession has come.
In the wise words of one of the most influential female legal professionals of our time, "Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn't be that women are the exception." — former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Left: The first bench of the High Court: their Honours Barton, Griffith and O'Connor seated, with court officials in the background. Photo taken at the first sitting of the court on 6 October 1903.
Right: The current bench of the High Court: their Honours Kiefel, Gageler, Keane, Gordon, Edelman, Steward and Gleeson. Of the 7 High Court Judges 3 are women!
