Women solicitors outnumber men solicitors in Australia for the first time
According to the latest national snapshot, National Profile of Solicitors in Australia, 2020, there has been a significant increase in the number of female legal professionals, with around 53% of the total enrolled solicitors in Australia. There have been over a 45 per cent increase in the last nine years across all states, in the total number of practising advocates. The study revealed that the number of female enrollments for legal practice was twice the number of male enrollments i.e.35% and 16% respectively.
Creating a milestone in the history of women empowerment at the workplace, female solicitors have outnumbered male solicitors in the government legal sector by 68%, corporate legal field by 60%, community legal sector by 71% and approximately half of the legal professionals in private legal practice by a good 48%. The number of solicitors in Australia has increased from 26,066 in 2011 to 83,643 at present, a majority of which are women.
Initiatives to support women solicitors
The report highlights the importance of initiatives such as The Law Society of NSW’s recently revamped Charter for the Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession. The Charter adds new provisions to prompt signatories to establish procedurally fair and transparent sexual discrimination and harassment complaints processes. This has led to a rise in the number of signatories to the Charter from 180 to 300 law firms and legal practices.
The Charter seeks to assist the solicitor profession in developing cultures that promote diversity and inclusion, prevent sexual harassment and bullying, and impact positively on all practitioners in their place of work. Sonja Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, Law Society of NSW applauds this development saying, “In 2011, when the first National Profile was published, women accounted for 46% of the nation’s 57,577 solicitors. Women now makeup 53% of all solicitors in Australia and, for the first time, female solicitors outnumber male solicitors in all states and territories.”
Urbis, a public policy evaluation and consultancy firm in Australia prepared the report 'National profile of Solicitors, 2020'. The report cum survey is based on the information rendered and data retrieved from the state and territory law societies which enrol legal professionals to practice law.