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29 January 2021 / Dana Denis-Smith
Issue: 7918 / Categories: Features , Profession , Equality
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Equality: getting back on track

37619
The impacts of COVID-19 risk turning back the clock on women’s equality: Dana Denis-Smith lays out a road to recovery

It has been widely reported that the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns have had a disproportionate impact on women. They are more likely than men to pick up the additional work within the home associated with educating and caring for their children, even when both parents are at home and work full-time. They are also more likely to work in positions that have been furloughed or made redundant.

Our own survey of women in the legal profession, conducted during the spring lockdown of 2020 and then again in October, have tracked women’s experiences through the pandemic, which at the outset saw women lawyers experiencing exhaustion as they tried to balance childcare with work.

Six months after the first lockdown, almost a quarter still had not seen their incomes return to pre-coronavirus levels, with one in five working less than their previous working hours.

32% worked for organisations which had made redundancies as a result of the pandemic, and 55% said they thought

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal expands Midlands residential development team

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn adds employee benefits and executive compensation practice in London with partner Richard Surtees

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL appoints new partner and head of intellectual property disputes

NEWS
A series of recent decisions has clarified important principles across property law, from perpetuities to lease renewals and public rights over land
Employers cannot rely on wellbeing services alone to defend workplace stress claims after a High Court decision awarding almost £1m to an overworked employee
Andy Burnham's brand of 'Manchesterism' could offer fresh thinking on legal aid and access to justice if it reaches Westminster, according to Roger Smith, NLJ columnist and former director of JUSTICE
The constitutional fallout from a change of prime minister, rather than the politics, is under scrutiny as questions arise over the limits of executive authority in a leadership transition
The legal profession is undergoing a fundamental shift from selling services to creating technology-enabled products, according to Professor Luke Mason, Head of School of Law at Regent's University London
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