Women Leaders in Law Summit in Lisbon

(and for use in appraisals). When in the office set aside time for internal networking outside your immediate team.

• Encourage leaders to ask and discuss what suits the individual lawyer. Don’t assume – it’s very common for pregnant women or one with young children to be left out of an opportunity or type of work because it might be stressful. Although this can be done for out of concern, it is up to the individual.

• Be careful when volunteering. When volunteers are requested don’t always be the first to reply – typically that isn’t recognised or valued as much, when it comes to the end of year billing target tallying. Contribute but make sure your line manager shares out those tasks fairly, so it does not have a disproportionate impact on any individual’s work.

• Review assessment of performance and potential – typically women score higher on performance because they may not confirm to the usual image of leadership. If this is the case in your work review your systems – what criteria is used for potential?

• Can your workplace change the traditional trajectory of a career? Can flexibility be built in to allow people to become leaders at different stages of their life/ career? Typically, we expect success at work to coincide with the time in life when people might also want to travel the world and /or have children.

Finally, an issue which many may feel should be discussed at home rather than at work. Ask yourself what mental burden you are carrying – do you micromanage the household from work? We all know women are still doing a far greater share of household tasks even if working full-time. If you are in a relationship, this requires an open discussion with your partner.

You can further explore some of these issues through the following links:

Great Sprint to the Great Sandwich (legalwomen.org.uk)

What’s Really Holding Women Back? Helen Broadbridge considers the debate. Harvard economist Robin Ely and Florida State sociologist Irene Padavic discuss the ‘shape’ of white-collar careers. They explore the narratives surrounding that trajectory by sharing the results of their in-depth, 18-month study of a large, international management consulting firm.

Performance Evaluation (legalwomen.org.uk)

How does performance valuation work in your office? Do you think it needs reviewing? This blog from Helen Broadbridge looks at some of the possible bias that may impact the performance process.

Volunteering (legalwomen.org.uk)

Helen Broadbridge discusses how and who volunteers for the non-profit ‘extra work’ which is needed in every office.

End Sexism In Schools - End Sexism in Schools

Balancing-the-Books-Gender-Bias-in-the-KS3-English-Curriculum-1.pdf (endsexisminschools.org.uk)

Written by Rachel Fenn, BA (Hons), MA, PGCE

An excerpt from the Conclusion to the report:

“The data analysed in this report demonstrates unequivocally that gender bias is a serious issue within the English curriculum. At least half – and most likely considerably more - of all school pupils will spend their entire education never studying a whole text by a female writer, and most will never study a text with a female protagonist. This marginalisation of women’s voices is a situation that cannot be allowed to continue.” ■