Glass Ceilings and the Law

To increase public awareness of gender issues in the legal profession, the Faculty of Law presented its first Female Legal Leaders Seminar on 4 November. Three distinguished female legal practitioners discussed the highlights of their careers and dealt with gender topics. Explaining the weak female representation at the top of the legal sector, Ms. Emma Davies, Partner of Clifford Chance, said that often when women are presented with the chance to be a partner, they get married and have children, taking their foot off the pedal. Meanwhile, the Honourable Mrs. Justice Audrey Campbell-Moffat, Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court of Hong Kong, believed that unlike solicitors, barristers have the freedom to go on hiatus and return without losing much ground, which makes it an excellent profession for women. Having initiated the Equal Opportunities Bill in the 1990s, Ms. Anna Wu Hung-yuk, now Chair of the Competition Commission of Hong Kong, recalled being challenged on many occasions by men who claimed the opposite sexes could never be the same. While she agreed that people come in different shapes and sizes, equal opportunities are not about erasing uniqueness but affording equal respect to all.

This article was originally published in No. 547/548, Newsletter in Dec 2019.