Artwork by Gerald Machona.
The legal profession should be above reproach. It upholds the human rights of others, and its goal is to seek the truth and to find justice for those who deserve it. Unfortunately, it has not always extended the same courtesy to female professionals who walk its halls.
The legal profession seems to be battling to recognise their rights and equality.
“We recently did a report entitled Transformation of the Legal Profession and many of the women we spoke to throughout our research reported the 15-minute rule,” said Professor Bonita Meyersfeld, of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. “They had to speak within the first 15 minutes of a meeting and, not only that, they had to say something exceptional because, if it wasn’t good enough, or was even remotely obvious, it reconfirmed the latent prejudices of those seated around the table.”
The issue of sexism in the legal community is hardly new. Besides Meyersfeld’s report, there are many articles, analyses and studies, all by women, examining the challenges they face. From maternity leave to the old boys’ club, women have to clamber over the obstacles of sexism and harassment.
Nicole Fritz, the director of the Southern African Litigation Centre, said: “I think there is a sort of blindness to the reality of a number of women’s lives. Law is an exacting profession that expects you to spend long hours immersed in particular cases, and sometimes this is at odds with the realities of many young women’s worlds. I don’t think that the transformation is complete and huge strides need to be made. It is nowhere near the point that it should be, and women going into the Bar are still encountering enormous challenges.”
The Law Report has been told that the Johan-nesburg Bar was made aware of complaints about sexism, and of junior female lawyers being badly treated. The Bar did not respond to requests for comment.
“The Bar has achieved much, but not enough, in transforming the racial diversity in its senior ranks,” said a female lawyer who wanted to remain anonymous. “It has been woeful at gender. Despite the large number of women law graduates, the ranks of female senior counsel are pathetically small. Those who receive top-tier work are minuscule in any field except family or labour law.”
She said the legal profession thrived on networks that provided friendship, guidance and mentoring. But they were often closed, and limited to white or black men.
“There is a latent, almost invisible, structure of discrimination against women in the profession that includes familiarity and language and networks,” Meyersfeld said. “So white men tend to spend a lot of time together. They have their round of golf, or a braai on a Sunday, and come to work with camaraderie. Black women are continually left out of that so they remain outsiders even though they are inside the profession.”
Fritz said: “I do think that there is an old guard who are very comfortable interacting with each other and giving briefs to those that they recognise as like themselves.
“I don’t think it would be fair to suggest this is true of the entire Bar, though, as you are seeing a number of women coming up in spheres that were traditionally male, such as competition law, and there is a real attempt to try to make sure there are more women getting opportunities in these spheres.”
But Meyersfeld said the problem needed to be addressed internally and systems and attitudes had to change. “In our report, some of the things we recommended were the inclusion of a robust sexual harassment policy, as there are very high levels of this in our profession and nobody gets held to account for it,” she said. “It is a direct insult to a woman’s intellectual capabilities and this is a profession in which you need to be valued for your intellect.”
But for Karen Robinson, a corporate lawyer with experience in listed construction and mining companies, gender bias has never been an issue for her.
“My experience has been that, if I deliver good work, I earn respect. If a woman tries to join the boys’ club, it is instantly recognised as a play. But, if she helps to meet performance objectives, then men don’t care if they are from Mars or Venus.
“I did have the sense that some of the older nonexecutive directors felt they needed to father me a bit, but it didn’t concern me and I never felt impeded in doing my job. It is possible that I am blissfully unaware of my surroundings, but they have all given me excellent references and took my advice when I was asked to give it.”
The lawyer, who asked to be anonymous, said: “Now that there is more diversity, it is easier to make those connections that create a professional community to which one can belong. Having options other than the old boys’ club is surely desirable and my network at the Bar is black, white, female and male. All are ambitious, diligent and thoughtful people. As to sexism, I have stories, but I reported the most serious to the Bar Council, and I must credit my male, yes, mostly white, colleagues for supporting my practice from day one.”
Sexism may be entrenched in the old boys’ guard, but it seems that, although sluggish and reluctant, change is coming to the legal ranks. Hopefully leaders in legal transformation such as Felicia Kentridge, who cofounded the Legal Resources Centre, will be less of an anomaly and part of the norm.
“For so many years, the women that have been at the forefront of their profession have been the exception to the rule,” Fritz said. “But now we are seeing these fantastic female lawyers and they are not the oddity they once were.”