Women lawyers' role in spotlight

The report examines women in the legal profession

A working party is needed to examine the role of women in Northern Ireland's legal profession, a report has said.

The report, by a University of Ulster law lecturer, focused on women in judicial posts and senior barristers.

Dermot Feenan said the number of women in top posts is considerably smaller than England and Wales and even worse when compared with other countries.

He said the level of women holding legal office in the province was 18% compared to 24.9% in England and Wales.

Many female lawyers questioned by the academic said they had been given no encouragement by their professional body or the Lord Chief Justice's office to apply to become a QC or to join the judiciary.

As well as the working party, Mr Feenan recommended providing safeguards against gender discrimination; more encouragement; improved communication about appointments and extension of practical assistance such as work-shadowing of judges.

Mr Feenan's research showed there were 166 women holders of judicial office in Northern Ireland ranging from County Court judges to chairs of tribunals.

• There are no women judges in the High Court in Northern Ireland.

• There are nine women in the County Courts compared with 30 men.

• There are three female full time Resident Magistrates compared with 15 male and five female deputy RMs compared with 13 male.

• Out of a total of 68 Queen's Counsel in the province, only five are women.

The number of women holding high legal office in Northern Ireland is low, 18%, compared with other countries.

In England and Wales last year women made up 24.9% of the judiciary; 15.8% sat on the bench and of the total number of High Court judges, 8% were women.

Compared with countries further afield, the picture is even worse. In Canada 26% of the federal judiciary are women , with one third of judges at provincial level.

Mr Feenan said: "While there has been a notable increase recently in the number of applications by women for judicial office, many women do not apply, or may not do as well as men, for a range of reasons that are remediable."

He said there were a range of factors which women were more likely to cite than men for not applying for judicial office or Silk, including caring for children and uncertainty about the appointments criteria.