‘The Law as a Profession for Women’: A Century of Progress?

Abstract

The contribution of women to the legal profession in Australia over a period of 100 years is discussed. The article reviews an essay on women's suitability for the legal profession written in 1909 by Grata Matilda Flos Greig, a graduate of Melbourne Law School who became Australia's first woman lawyer when she was admitted to the bar in Victoria in 1905. It examines trends in the lives of others who became the first women lawyers in different jurisdictions in the early 20th century. The Justicia Project in Ontario, which promotes the retention of women in the legal profession, is discussed. It is suggested that patterns that had prevented women from being admitted to the bar in the early 20th century are similar to problems that cause contemporary women lawyers to leave the profession, a situation which suggests both change and continuity in the history of women in law.