By Joanna Norris, partner at Ratio Law
It was International Women’s Day last month; a day where people all over the world celebrate women’s achievements and call for greater equality. Events took place far and wide and social media buzzing with inspirational quotes and calls for fairer treatment of women.
Women in business remains a hotly debated topic. Just last week, Germany passed legislation requiring large companies to allocate 30 per cent of seats on non-exec boards to women and the UK is also striving to see more women in decision making roles. Figures released in March 2014 showed that in the UK, women account for 20.7 per cent of board positions in the FTSE 100; not too far of Lord Davies’ original target of achieving 25 per cent in 2015.
While issues around the fair treatment of women in the workplace affect most sectors, it’s been interesting to look at how the legal sector performs in this area. Research by the Solicitors Regulations Authority shows that law as a subject attracts more females, with women making up 62.4 per cent of students accepted on a university law degree course in 2012. Yet despite more women studying the subject, female law graduates earn nearly £8,000 less than their male counterparts.
Further figures reveal male lawyers earn on average 28 per cent more than women, but there are signs that this figure is decreasing. Chris Cayley, managing director of Laurence Simons, was quoted in the London Evening Standard as saying: “Our research … shows that the gap is closing, which is important for the UK legal profession to remain at the top of its game globally.”
Pay isn’t the only issue though, as more needs to be done to ensure women are given the same opportunities and recognition as men. This too is improving in the legal sector though. While figures from 2012 suggest only one in ten top lawyers were women, The Lawyer’s Hot 100 2014 list ranked an equal number of men and women.
At Ratio, we seem to buck the trend of what’s going on elsewhere in the legal sector. The two partners – myself and Gisella Alberici – are both women, and out of a team of nine, eight are females. So what’s our secret? Well, I’m not sure if there’s a secret. Ratio was born out of a lot of hard work and determination, as well as a desire to offer our clients first-rate legal advice and business support on a one-to-one basis.
While our team may not reflect the rest of the industry, women in law – and business, in general – is a topic we all care a lot about. There is still some work to be done to ensure women are treated and rewarded fairly, but it’s promising to see statistics in the legal sector moving the right way.