Neil Sands
Leading women lawyers’ associations have demanded urgent action to improve the New Zealand Law Society’s (NZLS) Gender Equality Charter, saying the initiative has little impact in its current form and represents “a missed opportunity”.
The charter was launched in 2018, inviting signatories from across the legal profession “to demonstrate their commitment to gender equality and inclusion”.
Those who sign up are asked to report every two years on a range of metrics – including equitable instruction and briefing practices, number of lawyers in senior legal roles and details of unconscious bias training undertaken. The data is used to in a biennial charter report, next due in December this year.
Signatories are given access tools and resources on gender equality and can use an NZLS-branded Gender Equality Charter logo on their marketing and communications material.
However, the four main women lawyers’ associations of Aotearoa – Auckland, Canterbury, Otago, and Wellington – have questioned the charter’s value, pointing to a disproportionately low number of women in leadership positions, a stubbornly persistent gender pay gap and low numbers of women appearing as lead counsel in the higher courts.
“The charter, in its current form, is a missed opportunity: after seven years it has had little impact, with some areas regressing. Bold decisive measures are required,” the associations said in a joint letter.
The letter called for the charter to set targets – with deadlines – for the number of women in leadership partnership/director roles and closing the gender pay gap, as well as implementation of clear promotion pathways.
It said organisations unwilling to publish their performance data should not be excluded from the charter, adding:” Without accountability, charter endorsement is potentially misleading.”
The letter also recommended expanding the charter’s scope beyond gender, so it also covers Māori, Pasifika, rainbow and disabled practitioners.
“We cannot wait another 20 years for gender equality. This is a profession-wide challenge, requiring urgent, strong intervention,” the letter said.
Gender-equality journey
NZLS chief executive Katie Rusbatch said there had been improvements since the charter was launched, with the 2023 survey showing one-in-five participating workplaces had gender equality in senior roles, while 14% said the ratio of women in those roles had increased.
Rusbatch acknowledged more work was needed and said the charter would undergo a “substantive review” next year, involving widespread engagement across the profession.
“In the meantime, we have made some improvements to this year’s survey to support us with the conversations we wish to have next year. For example, in response to feedback, we have updated the survey this year to ask current signatories to opt in to share their data publicly. Transparency can be an important tool in driving change.”
However, there appears little prospect of the mandatory targets and compulsory transparency recommended by the women lawyers’ associations, with Rusbatch saying NZLS believes the most effective way to get more women in senior roles is “to meet all charter signatories wherever they are on their gender-equality journey and support them to evolve”.
“Our approach to gender equality is one of manaakitanga. This means working together and listening to a range of voices to foster shared ownership of the challenges and develop a meaningful way forward,” she said.
New Zealand Bar Association research this year showed that even though women make up 55% of all lawyers in New Zealand, they comprise only 30% of lead counsel appearing in the Court of Appeal and 26% in the Supreme Court. The gender gap is most acute in civil cases, where women are just 19% of lead counsel.
LawNews last month asked several senior legal professionals for suggestions on practical steps to increase the number of female lead counsel appearing in the higher courts. Their responses can be read here.
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