Almost half of female barristers have suffered workplace harassment, report finds

The 'Women at the Bar' report is based on an online survey sent to all practising female barristers in the UK, of which 1,333 responded, or roughly one-quarter of women in the profession. While the majority of respondents said that their workplace had an active equality policy, awareness of harassment policies appeared to be much lower. Two in every five respondents said that they had experienced harassment at the Bar, though only one in five of those reported the incident. An even larger percentage (48 per cent) said that they had experienced discrimination, though again only one in five had reported the incident or incidents to a relevant authority. The results suggest that the incidence of harassment at the Bar has changed very little over the last fifteen years.

A problem for the whole profession

BSB general director Dr Vanessa Davies believes that discriminatory treatment of female lawyers threatens the standards of the profession as a whole and should be of concern to all barristers. ‘Lack of diversity and discriminatory working culture and practices impair the Bar’s ability to meet the needs of the public and could deter potentially great candidates from pursuing a career at the Bar,’ she said. Of those respondents who had reported harassment, at least half were not satisfied with the response. Of those who didn’t report incidents of discrimination, fear of damaging their careers, failing to induce change and attitudes at the Bar towards reporting discrimination were key deterrents.

Sources: Legal Futures; BSB