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Females make up just 20 per cent of honorary silk nominations

The majority of stats like these which purport to highlight discrimination are completely misleading (and meaningless without being placed in a proper context). The reality is that you are only likely to be made an honorary QC if you have a fair few years behind you. Given that the ratio of men to women taking up a career in law (and many other professional occupations) in the 70s/80s was severely weighted towards men means that there will inevitably be far more men who meet the 'longevity' criteria today. To suggest that honorary QC appointments should be evenly weighted between men and women would itself be discriminatory if a more deserving male candidate was overlooked in order to appoint a female so as to create gender balance.

20-Mar-2012

5:05 pm