{"id":5218,"date":"2020-01-23T11:28:29","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T11:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/?p=5218"},"modified":"2021-06-15T16:36:40","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T15:36:40","slug":"after-100-years-where-now-for-womens-equality-and-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/after-100-years-where-now-for-womens-equality-and-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"After 100 years \u2013 where now for women\u2019s equality and the law?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dr Gowri Nanayakkara looks at how women\u2019s equality in the workplace has developed since the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Last\nmonth saw the centenary celebration of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nAct on 23 December 1919 enabled women in the UK to enter into learned\nprofessions such as law (as solicitors, barristers, magistrates and jurors),\naccountancy, higher ranks of civil service and even the opportunity to be\nawarded with a degree (not allowed in some universities at the time).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet,\ndespite this landmark Act and the subsequent legislation which affected gender\nequality in matters relating to property inheritance, divorce, equal\nguardianship of children, equal franchise and wider legal reform in the\ncriminal justice system, current day headlines still demonstrate inequalities\nfor professional women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently BBC presenter Samira Ahmed won pay\ndispute with the broadcaster after she was paid less than a male colleague\ndoing similar work. And radio presenter Sarah Montague has also confirmed she\nwon a \u00a3400,000 settlement and an apology from the BBC after being treated\n“unequally” by the corporation for years. Eyebrows have also been\nraised due to no women being chosen, once again, for some Oscar and BAFTA shortlists,\nincluding Best Director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nsituation is not so different for women in law. Studies have found rampant\ngender pay gap in law firms: in some, as high as 66% and male partners paid 27%\nmore than their female counterparts. Limited female lawyers in senior positions\nwithin law firms are also a concern. Nevertheless, women in law are certainly\ngaining more strength in numbers as women solicitors now outnumber men. The higher\njudiciary too seems more attainable for female judges due to trailblazers like Lady\nHale, the first female president of the Supreme Court, who advocated for half\nthe judiciary be female.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless\nof the limitations of this Act, it is undoubtedly a monumental achievement and\na momentous milestone in the long and difficult path to women\u2019s equality. But, there\nis still a long way to go in achieving gender equality at work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To celebrate this landmark moment, CCCU\nSchool of Law and Kent Law Society are hosting a public event, \u2018inspirational\nwomen in law\u2019, on Thursday 6 February 2020 from 6 – 8:30 pm in Room PG06. Find\nout more and book your place here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Gowri Nanayakkara is a Senior Lecturer in\nLaw<\/a> in the School\nof Law, Criminal Justice and Policing.<\/a> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Gowri Nanayakkara looks at how women\u2019s equality in the workplace has developed since the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":242,"featured_media":5226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[257,3902],"tags":[3233,1005],"class_list":["post-5218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law","category-research","tag-equal-pay","tag-gender-equality"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"authorName":"Jeanette Earl","featuredImage":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/437\/2020\/01\/Justice.jpg","postExcerpt":"Dr Gowri Nanayakkara looks at how women\u2019s equality in the workplace has developed since the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/242"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5218"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7573,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5218\/revisions\/7573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}