How women lawyers in Birmingham broke the glass ceiling years ago

Oct 28 2009 by Vanessa di Cuffa, Birmingham Post

Does the glass ceiling still exist for women lawyers in Birmingham? Vanessa Di Cuffa says it was smashed years ago

Women are still substantially underrepresented at senior level in City firms, according to new research by leading law publication Legal Week, with more than half of partners believing the profession has a poor record at retaining female lawyers.

The survey of over 200 partners in legal firms found more than two thirds of respondents (67 per cent) felt representation of women at a senior level was either “poor” or “could be better”.

In contrast, only five per cent thought the level of women making it to senior roles was “excellent”. Thirteen per cent thought it was “good” and 15 per cent judged it to be “OK”.

This research is fascinating, not only because it appears to highlight a perceived inequality between the sexes, but also because it really is not a true reflection of what is happening outside the City of London.

I firmly believe, particularly here in the West Midlands, that women lawyers broke through the proverbial glass ceiling years ago, and that the legal profession offers some outstanding career opportunities, regardless of gender.

At Freeth Cartwright, for example, we are seeing greater numbers of high calibre women showing an interest in top level professional vacancies across all our specialist fields.

There is absolutely no questioning the fact that men and women contend equally for these positions and, in this enlightened age, it is an insult to suggest otherwise.

But whilst the local legal profession is making strong headway on the gender issue, it is apparent that not all business sectors are quite so forward-thinking.

The Guardian newspaper has just published its annual survey of boardroom pay.

One of the key findings is that only one in 15 boardroom seats in the FTSE 100 is occupied by women, who mostly hold part-time roles as non-executive directors.

Steps are being taken, though, to reverse this woeful trend. Witness last month’s launch of Women for Boards, a broadly-publicised scheme that aims to increase the number of high quality women on the boards of FTSE 250 and FTSE 350 companies.

It plans to pair potential female candidates with mentors such as the former newsreader Anna Ford, now a non-executive director at Sainsbury’s, and Helen Alexander, president of the CBI business lobby group and non-executive director of Rolls-Royce and Centrica.

Arguably even more groundbreaking than this equality initiative are the steps being taken by computer company Dell. Senior male workers within the organisation are being mentored by female colleagues in a pioneering move aimed at highlighting the problems women face in the workplace.

Such schemes are to be supported and will, I hope, achieve their commendable aim.

Indeed, I am sure that some of these approaches could be of benefit to the Midlands legal profession to underpin its forward-thinking attitudes.

On a wider basis, though, they are absolutely essential if the proverbial glass ceiling is to be banished from UK businesses.#

Whilst steps are being taken to eradicate it, it does still exist.

Vanessa Di Cuffa is head of employment at Birmingham law firm Freeth Cartwright