Gender Equality

Frances Moran SC, the first woman to become a senior counsel in either Ireland or Britain, will be the subject of a new artwork by Vera Klute which has been jointly commissioned by the Bar of Ireland and the King's Inns as part of the In Plain Sight initiative. Ms Moran was called to the Bar in 1924

A long-promised referendum to remove references to "woman's place in the home" from the Constitution will take place this November, the government has announced. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and children, equality, disability, integration and youth minister Roderic O'Gorman made the announcement today to

The Bar of Ireland has launched a new policy aimed at promoting equitable briefing amongst male and female barristers. The Equitable Briefing Policy is a targeted initiative which asks signatories to consider the gender of counsel once the objectives of seniority, expertise and experience have been

A new portrait of Frances Kyle BL and Averil Deverell BL, the first women to be called to The Bar of Ireland, has been unveiled at the King's Inns. Artist Emma Stroud was commissioned to produce the portrait as part of the "In Plain Sight" initiative jointly launched by the Bar and the King's Inns,

Lorraine Lally BL shares highlights from a recent webinar on confidence and women in the law. In 2016 it was a realisation that women were leaving the legal profession and were not moving into positions of seniority due to lack of sufficient work and opportunities. This reflected a global and cultur

International law firm Linklaters will train senior lawyers on the impact of menopause under a new global policy aimed at retaining and supporting women of all ages into senior roles. The firm will also facilitate "open discussions" and encourage lawyers to share their experiences of menopause under

The Next 100 Years, the successor project to the First 100 Years, has launched a new film series – Next 100 Voices – showcasing the next generation of women leaders in the law, kicking off with criminal defence barrister Abimbola Johnson. Ms Johnson, from 25 Bedford Row, was last year ap

Law firms in Northern Ireland should take action to address gender imbalance at a partner level, the Law Society has said, with women holding just three out of every 10 partner positions in private practice. Brigid Napier, the 10th woman to hold the position of Law Society president in its 100-year

Northern Ireland barrister Moira Smyth QC reflected on 100 years of women in the law in the latest lecture in the Legal History Project series, which is now available to watch on YouTube. The lecture followed a photographic exhibition hosted by The Bar of Northern Ireland, which celebrated and promo

Pakistan has sworn in its first female Supreme Court judge. Ayesha Malik, 55, will sit alongside 16 men on the country's top court. She was educated at the Pakistan College of Law and Harvard University and has served as a judge in the city of Lahore for the past two decades.

Company boards will have to comprise at least 40 per cent women under a private members' bill submitted today by a Fine Gael TD. Emer Higgins, TD for Dublin Mid-West, submitted the Irish Corporate Governance (Gender Balance) Bill 2021 to the Dáil after developing it in conjunction with the Na

Three women judges have made history in Wales after sitting as part of the criminal division of the Court of Appeal – the first time it has sat in Wales comprising all women.

Nearly half of state boards are falling short of a government target to have women making up at least 40 per cent of their membership. Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Michael McGrath updated ministers this week on progress to strengthen gender diversity on state boards across the Irish public

The Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019 has passed all the stages in the Dáil and Seanad Éireann. The bill was first introduced in April 2019 but it lapsed with the dissolution of the Dáil in 2020, before being restored to the Order Paper later that year.

The Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland has dismissed an appeal from the Department of Justice against a finding that it had discriminated against a female employee on the grounds of sex. The claimant alleged that she had been employed with the DOJ and had intermittently performed the functions of a