International Women's Day and the Criminal Bar of England and Wales

The 8th of March is International Women’s Day. 

It grew from a day in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City calling for shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. Sound familiar?

The following year the Socialist Party of America declared the first National Woman’s Day.  In 1910 at an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin, an advocate for women’s rights, suggested there be a yearly International Women’s Day. It was first celebrated in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.

Bread and Peace

The date of the 8th of March apparently is taken from a strike by women in Russia in 1917 when they demanded “bread and peace”.

This does seem to be a demand which has not dated.

 International Women’s Day became official in 1975 when adopted by the United Nations.

Women at the Criminal Bar

The Criminal Bar Association and Bar Council have changed from my years as a junior on the Executive Committee of the CBA, the Bar Council Public Affairs Committee and as a Young Spokesperson, over two decades ago, with my seat at the table but on occasions feeling that I was in a highchair.  

At the end of 2022, the CBA for the first time had all female Chair, Vice-Chair and Treasurer. I now am the sixth woman Chair, and our Young Bar Committee barristers predominantly are women.

However, we urgently need to retain and to reverse the attrition of women on the climb up through the profession.

Practising at the Criminal Bar can be a rewarding career and one which has produced many of the Bar’s most inspiring figures. We need to reengage with that memory as we continue shaping medium and long-term reform of our criminal justice system in crisis.

Exodus

There is exodus of women criminal barristers in the middle of their professional life. Reasons are the difficult and often unreasonable working hours which can be incompatible with family life, insecurity of income, inequalities in the system and poor legal aid pay where  Bar Council evidence demonstrates  that income flatlines at 8-12 years’ call. Recent reforms to legal aid are finally increasing fees but barristers are feeling the stress of the huge workload created by the backlog of over 60,000 cases in the Crown Court.

The Future

As to the  air at the heights of the profession that women cannot breathe, some oxygen is being offered through a reverse mentoring scheme of the Judiciary.

Encouragingly, in 2022 the number of women applying for silk (Queen's/King's Counsel) was a record 78, although the number appointed was only 36. In 2021, the figures were 72 and 45 respectively. However, women were more successful than men; 47% were appointed, compared to 29% of men.

Criminal barristers must get out there and spread the message as to why they still do the job. Students need to be encouraged to come to the Criminal Bar. 

Also, we need to work together to better understand the ongoing stress and any changes required  to prevent burn out. Recently, the CBA circulated a survey to obtain the detail and I encourage CBA members to set out their issues and suggested remedies. 

The Criminal Bar always has put its arms around its colleagues. It is doing so now and will do so again.

Laurie-Anne Power KC, a black criminal barrister, from a background of social housing and not helped by financial privilege, recently described to me that she thought she was doing "the best job in the world."

It can be. 

I am proud to be the woman who was elected by the Criminal Bar to lead. Growing up in Lancashire, to parents who had to leave school to work at 15 years old, I feel that I carry the privilege and am passing it to those around me; to the future.

My hand is extended and the ladder remains firmly down as we go forward. 

Happy International Women's Day!