A conversation piece by an anonymous contributor.
Women make up the majority of solicitors in every Australian State and Territory, with the number of female-identifying solicitors soaring since 2011.[1] Indeed most, if not all, mid-tier and top-tier firms have determined gender parity in their partnerships a priority (notably, none of the top-tiers have reached the 50-50 split). In a similar vein, it is common for law students to be handed a pamphlet at networking events that invariably feature sections about their cultural diversity networks and their commitment to inclusivity. I often wonder whether firms are merely paying lip service to the buzzwords of diversity and equity; however, during the recent clerkship application process, I forced myself to swallow my doubts. I convinced myself that these doubts were the products of my own insecurities as a woman of colour entering what I assumed to be an overwhelmingly white industry.
Having now completed clerkships at various firms, I am extremely grateful to have had the experience knowing how much of a privilege my time there was. Still, I would be lying to you if I said I never felt out of place. Throughout my experience I only interacted with (and only ever saw) one partner who was a woman of colour. My supervisors were almost all men, and similarly, almost all white. Even within the clerk cohorts, it felt like the only diversity quota met was the representation of each Melbourne private school. I remember feeling confused and somewhat defeated on behalf of friends who didn’t receive offers— by no means is there a shortage of talented, capable women of colour applying. So why are so few getting that 10am call in October? Perhaps an even more unsettling question; of those that do, why do so few stay and make it to the Senior Associate/Partner level?
There is significant literature on the structural barriers women of colour face in the workplace (see this report for interest); including diversity policies that favour indirect notions of inclusivity and 20 minute inductions modules over actionable, intersectional goals for representation at all levels of seniority. My otherness didn’t only stem from seeing no other women who looked like me in the room (an experience POC’s know all too well), it was also a result of subconscious, and at times even well-meaning, micro-aggressions ranging from partners asking why I wasn’t pursuing STEM in interviews (note, I dropped STEM in high school…), to my name being repeatedly mispronounced, or even being subtly but consistently left out of lunchtime conversations. That is, over the course of just three months, I felt both the structural and cultural barriers that many women of colour lawyers have no doubt been grappling with their entire career.
Despite these, at best awkward, interactions, I kept wondering whether I was feeding into some cycle of bias — maybe I didn’t try hard enough to be included in conversations, or maybe I didn’t confidently correct people when they butchered my name. I realise now that what I really needed during these clerkships was a senior woman of colour in the firm to have as a role model, or to even confide in, without fearing that it would detriment my chances of receiving a graduate offer. I needed, and probably still need, some reassurance that women of colour can and do succeed in law. This realisation has reignited my previously dwindling desire to work in the law long term, to be able to welcome and share conversations with emerging lawyers who have ever felt like I did.
Cultural biases inform structural barriers and vice versa. Diversity quotas and other adjacent initiatives must go hand in hand with addressing underlying biases inherent in clerkship opportunities, in current staff, students, and partners alike. No module alone can undo decades of social conditioning. Yet, as difficult as the clerkship process was, I really do hope that women of colour continue applying in droves. I needed more of us, just as the profession itself needs more of us too.
[1] https://www.lawsociety.com.au/advocacy-and-resources/advancement-of-women/gender-statistics
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