International Women’s Day 2023

Happy International Women’s Day! We are proud to recognise the amazing women in our lives both professionally and personally.

Yesterday we were fortunate to attend the University’s Women in Law Breakfast, celebrating the experiences and accomplishments of women in the legal profession. This year’s theme was abundance. Celebrating the abundance of support, change, opportunities, personal growth, and equality.

Our very own Legal Secretary, Lauren, helped organise the event and presented an amazing speech you can read in full below.

In her speech Lauren discuss’ this year’s IWD theme, embrace equity. Lauren emphasises that “equity goes beyond just the male and female dynamic”. As Director of Social Justice for University of Newcastle Law Students Association, Lauren is working to make the law school more diverse and accessible this year for students, especially for queer, Indigenous, and disabled students.

As a law firm we are committed to providing compassionate and effective legal representation to women who need it most. You can contact us today for an initial consult.

“Good morning to our distinguished guests and future leaders, I am so excited to welcome you to the first of our Intentional Women’s Day events today. Thank you all for sharing this wonderful breakfast with us as we recognise and celebrate the brilliant women in law around us.

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is embrace equity. Each and every woman in this room knows that embracing equity isn’t just about the “big things” like the gender pay gap, but also about the “little things” like casual sexism in the office or having to work twice as hard to be taken seriously. But equity goes beyond just the male and female dynamic, to encompass women of colour, Indigenous women, queer community members, and disabled women. Everyone can play a role in changing the future and forging gender parity, because the rise of women is not about the fall of men.

It’s about reaching a world where there are equal opportunities, equal rights, and equal recognition of successes. In NSW, female lawyers outnumber their male counterparts everywhere except private practice, but across all sectors and ages, women are receiving a lesser wage. Women who are in the early stages of their career can already be earning up to $50 000 less than their male colleagues. But the root of this problem goes deeper, in 2021 only 29% of women were partners or principals of a private practice, compared to the 54% of men. Not only this, but 40% of male lawyers are over 50 years old, compared to the 19% of women. The average age of a female solicitor is 39 years old, compared to 46 for men. We see trends where women are consistently left behind, but what can we do to challenge this?

Financial transparency, implicit bias training, advocacy, equal opportunities, equal allocation of office maintenance tasks, maternity leave and domestic violence leave all make a difference. Having practical and useful advice from other women who have been in your position creates systems of learning and support. This evening we will be taking a deeper dive into these issues with some industry professionals, and we hope to see you there.

I chose the theme of abundance for our breakfast because I want an abundance of opportunities for me and my peers. I want an abundance of growth and learning. An abundance of equality, with more than enough to go around for every person. An abundance of courage to stand up for change, and for ourselves.

One woman who sparks my love of learning and my passion for equality is Matilda Joslyn Gage, an historian and feminist who was written out of history for being “too bold” and “too revolutionary”. That revolutionary idea? That women should have the right to vote because they were human, not for their feminine touch. Not to balance out the strength and brashness of the male vote. No other reason that as a human, a full person, we have the right to choose. Matilda’s work as an historian is recognised in beautiful ways today. Her son-in-law, Frank Baum is particularly famous for his work on the Wizard of Oz. He was inspired by Matilda’s effortless work to bring justice to victims of the witch hunts and witch trials in Europe. When I listen to “Wicked”, I think of Matilda and her belief that every place a man belongs, so does a woman.

So I leave you with her thoughts, “A rebel! How glorious the name sounds when applied to a woman. Oh, rebellious woman, to you the world looks in hope. Upon you has fallen the glorious task of bringing liberty to the earth and all the inhabitants thereof.”

Thank you.“