Temple Women’s Forum Cross- Profession Garden Party
As a Law Student back in 1997-1998, I applied to become a Member of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. I recall being so grateful to the late Sir Joshua Hassan QC, past Chief Minister of Gibraltar, for writing my reference for entry. I hold fond memories of the Dinners (and lunches) attended at the Middle Temple during my Bar Vocational Course year at the Inns of Court School of Law, London. Twelve Dinners were compulsory ahead of final exam qualification and being called as a Barrister-at-Law to the Bar of England and Wales. Call Day was a momentous occasion, celebrating the culmination of many years of study and work. Over the years I have sporadically visited the Middle Temple for lunch, very much enjoying the architecture and surrounding Fountain Court.
When I learned that the Temple Women’s Forum were organising a Cross-Profession Garden Party I was excited to attend. I have represented women’s interests in Gibraltar as past Chair of the Gibraltar Women’s Association. As a female Barrister I have personally experienced inappropriate language and innuendos, sex discrimination and glass ceilings; I have witnessed how many of my female peers dropped out of the profession on marrying or starting a family and I am acutely aware of the general disproportionate percentage of male to female lawyers in positions of partnership and as more senior members of the Gibraltar Bar Council and Judiciary. It was very empowering to hear Her Honour Judge Sapnara, opening the event and openly acknowledging some of the challenges women face at the Bar:
“…But something clearly needed to be done to address this serious loss of talent of women in the prime of their careers. So what we have been focused on is to organise events to support and sustain woman professionals in the law through the challenges of career development and issues such as care responsibilities. As with a number of diversity initiatives, the work of the Temple Women’s Forum enjoys the solid support of senior judiciary at the very highest level… Recent events we have held have included … a conversation with the lady justices of appeal and a panel of very distinguished women reflecting on how far we have progressed since women gained the vote… I think we can all recognise that as women we frequently face challenges and obstacles which tend to be gender specific… issues which serve to inhibit us from making the progress that we could and should be making.
Now whether that is because we suffer from time to time with imposter syndrome, or that we sometimes are reticent about asserting ourselves and putting ourselves forward, or being able to communicate our abilities to others who are in positions of authority, leadership or patronage and who can make a difference to our career paths and our aspirations.
Or perhaps it’s because we fear sometimes as being seen to be too ambitious as though ambition were a dirty word and that by wanting to fulfil our potential, we somehow do not know our place.
Or perhaps it is that sometimes we are simply overwhelmed with all the competing demands on our lives: to be able to retain a sense of self-autonomy, to manage work/ life balance and preserve our own wellbeing. In order to be able to see ourselves either continuing or advancing within our professional careers we know that there are a range of situations in which we benefit from a mutual support system being made available to us where we can share experiences, make enquiries, learn about the range of options available to us and how and where we go about seeking, developing and enhancing our skillsets to our advantage. That is what this networking party is here for…. a space for you to mingle and meet and speak with as many people as you can, so that you can forge connections and create relationships going forward into the future.
… On a personal note I know how much I benefitted when I was a young practitioner at the Bar of just 3 years' call and pregnant with my first child and being lucky enough to have access to a number of more senior women who had been through the same experiences and whom I could talk to about all my fears and anxieties about how I would manage motherhood and care responsibilities and how I would be able to return to work and be able to resume a healthy practice. Their experience, wisdom and insight was invaluable to me. Unfortunately these sorts of issues persist and I had a very recent conversation with a really talented junior member of the Bar who had left to have another child and she was extremely anxious and worried about the sort of issues which troubled me all those years ago.
I am also conscious of the fact that there are issues of intersectionality, which we need to be conscious of and that there might be for example, specific challenges for women of a black and minority ethnic background which need a more tailor-made approach to help to address them…
I was also struck… with some barristers who are single and they live alone and they value the social contact that they have through work. So, on the one hand whilst technological advances and more flexible work practices have improved the lives of many of our colleagues, at the same time for some other people this has meant a loss of social contact, so I think we need to be mindful of these sorts of issues as well…”
Her Honour Judge Sapnara has been Circuit Judge since 2014, sitting primarily in Family Court cases and also in crime. She is an acknowledged expert in forced marriage, ‘honour’ based violence and domestic violence. Serving on the Family Law Bar Association Committee and also the Equality & Diversity Committee of the Bar Council, she has taught at the Judicial College and currently serves as both Diversity Community Relations Judge and a Judicial Role Model. Appointed to the Family Justice Council and serves as a Trustee / Board member of a number of charities.
For further information, please contact: amber@amberlaw.com