The centenary of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 rightly prompted many discussions of gender diversity at the Bar last year. As entry to the profession has opened to women, both legally and culturally, the conversation has shifted from one of sex discrimination to diversity. However, what is really meant by gender diversity at the Bar?
It should be uncontroversial that, for the majority of the previous 100 years, the lack of gender diversity was caused by gender discrimination. Is gender diversity merely the process of ensuring that historic gender discrimination fully works its way out of the collective professional constitution? Or would the Bar, and the clients it serves, benefit from actively seeking to provide a workforce that is truly balanced in gender for the reasons that have been studied in other sectors? For example, it has been shown in private equity that gender-balanced teams financially outperform all-male teams by a substantial margin (see ‘Private equity: the bottom line benefits from gender diversity’, Financial Times, 6
