Supreme Court head aims to be inspiration to other women
THE first female head of the Supreme Court has said that she hopes her position will help other women, as “there is a special place in hell for women who pull up the drawbridge after them”.
In her first press conference since being sworn in as president, Baroness Hale of Richmond said that her role showed that women were able to reach the pinnacle of any profession.
When asked what example she set, Lady Hale, 72, said: “It is a good thing to see that women can reach positions at the top of any profession … this is partly to show that women can on occasions have as much merit as men have, and it is partly to set a good example to all those wonderful able young women who want to aspire to the top.”
She welcomed the fact that Lady Justice Black would be joining her as the second female justice.
“I think it was Madeleine Albright who said there is a special place in hell for the first women who pull up the drawbridge after them, and I have been wanting to avoid that special place ever since I became a law lord in 2004,” she said. “I just hope that it won’t take another 13 years before the third, fourth or fifth or sixth woman joins the court.”