Legal profession dominated by males

THE issue of gender transformation in the legal world has been a major challenge.

After 24 years of democracy, the legal profession largely continues to be male-dominated.

The statistics, as at 2017, make cold reading. According to the Law Society of South Africa, there were more women graduating or practising as attorneys at the end of 2012, while the statistics of the General Bar Council paint a different picture of transformation, that the country has only 561 practising female advocates out of 2384.

The gender representation in the judiciary of permanent judges on March 31, 2017, shows that there are 35% women judges in comparison to 65% male judges.

This information clearly defines the position – far from satisfactory.

There is often the argument that female aspirant judges must undergo specialist training to prepare them more adequately for the job – this must be rejected out of hand as a gender bias argument.

It suggests that female attorneys or advocates are inferior, which is far from the truth. Since 1994, we have had male judges in all the courts who have not only excelled but have contributed constructively to the development of our law. They received no special training. They were simply appointed on their experience (as the females should also be).

The problem is a mindset. The male-dominated profession is still steeped in gender bias attitudes. There is always the blatant bias that a prospective female judicial officer should undergo some form of training, which presupposes that she is not adequately capable whereas a male is not treated in this manner.

Solution

This, of course, is unacceptable as it is not only blatantly discriminatory but also suggestive of inferior knowledge or experience.

The only positive solution is the acceleration of female appointments as judicial officers.

Some of the statistics demonstrate the bias:

African male judges 73 v African women judges 41; coloured male judges 15 v coloured women judges 11; Indian male judges 13 v Indian women judges 9; and white male judges 58 v white women judges 26. This is way off from the desirable equal numbers – or for that matter more females than males.

The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) has called for flexible working hours, including gender-sensitive policies such as paternity and maternity leave for the judiciary.

Gender parity is important as a statistical measure that provides a numerical value of the men-to-women ratio, and therefore specific quotas should be introduced to ensure gender equality in the judiciary. Moreover, it is also critical to note that the leadership positions in the judiciary are also dominated by men and this makes succession planning for empowering women extremely difficult.

The lack of equitable representation does not bode well for the future sustainable economic growth of the country due to the continued lack of inclusivity and representativity of the demographic population distribution in the workplace in terms of population groups, gender and disability.

Mindset

The male-dominated profession continues to function the same way it has done in the long past, with the occasional colouring of gender transformation each time there is some noise or when deliberate prodding takes place.

The mindset continues and, until such time as the mindset changes, the gender bias will continue its jagged path.

I have deliberately steered clear of the practices that prevail, such as asking a female candidate whether she has children or whether she will have children.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which conducts the interviews of prospective applicants, is still very much male-dominated and, if a start has to be made to vigorously transform the judiciary, it has to be the composition of the JSC – the representatives of the various entities like the Law Societies, the Bar Council of South Africa and the parliamentary block representing the political parties will all have to re-look at their appointees on the JSC.

Until the composition of the JSC changes, I am afraid gender inequality in the judiciary will continue.

Trikamjee is a practising attorney and the executive consultant in a major Durban law firm.