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A Brief History of Women in Law

What a difference a century makes. 100 years ago, women lawyers were banned from practising law in the UK. Today, they outnumber their male counterparts. And while there may be a way to go to achieving true equality in and out of the courtroom, the boardroom, and any other room for that matter, the future is looking decidedly female. So hold on to your (lady) briefs as we celebrate some ceiling smashing women that make us proud to call ourselves lawyers.

Gwyneth Bebb

Caught in the wrong half of the 20th century, Gwyneth was never able to practice the law that she studied. One of the first women to read law at Oxford University, she achieved first-class results but wasn’t allowed to formally graduate. In 1911, Bebb vs. the Law Society petitioned for the right to qualify as an attorney in a case that rested on whether a woman was, laughably, considered a ‘person’ as per the wording of the Solicitors Act 1843. It took a decade, alongside the gathering momentum of the suffrage movement and the redefinition of women’s roles during the First World War, but the first doors were broken down by the 1919 Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act. In 1922, Gwyneth’s classmates were among the UK’s first female barristers. Gwyneth herself had sadly died the year before due to complications following childbirth, but her legacy lives on.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The Notorious RBG, as she’s affectionately known in the US, was the second woman ever to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court. She’s the subject of not one, but two recent films that explore the justice’s ground-breaking work around gender and race discrimination throughout her law career. In the documentary RBG, we’re given first-hand insight into the octogenarian’s graceful, no-nonsense fight for equality and how her personal life has intertwined with her professional career. Biopic movie On The Basis Of Sex sees a young Ruth navigating Harvard Law School as one of very few female students in the 1950s. At the time, she felt openly resented for taking up a place that could have gone to a man, but never gave up on her conviction that societal change must begin with the law. Now in her 80s, RBG continues to serve and stands as a symbol in the fight for women’s rights.

Michelle Obama

Michelle Robinson was a young associate in the late 1980s, having had a smoother ride than RBG before her – but still pitted against the challenges that women of colour face in many realms of life and work. After graduating from Harvard Law, Michelle was safely ensconced in the sleek, high-rise world of a Chicago firm before making some quietly radical changes to her own life. In her brilliant memoir Becoming, Michelle opens up about the moment she begins to question her career path, going on to step away from corporate law in order to find purpose. It took sacrifice, hustle and the support of those around her, but she shifted the valuable skills she’d developed as a lawyer into public service and never needed to look back. As First Lady of the United States, she would go on to build pioneering initiatives and influence policy to benefit millions of Americans. As an advocate for girls’ education, she’s an inspiration to women around the world, demonstrating what a girl from a humble background can, indeed, become.

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