Supreme Court judge says judicial gender equality could take 50 years

A Supreme Court judge has said it could take 50 years to achieve gender equality within the UK’s senior judiciary.

Lord Jonathan Sumption, a 64-year old justice who joined the Supreme Court in 2012, said the lack of diversity was a “significant problem”, but urged patience and caution in the short term.

Lord Sumption told the London Evening Standard: “The change in the status and achievements of women in our society, not just in the law but generally, is an enormous cultural change that has happened over the last 50 years or so.

“It has to happen naturally. It will happen naturally. But in the history of a society like ours, 50 years is a very short time.”

He added: “We have got to be very careful not to do things at a speed which will make male candidates feel that the cards are stacked against them. If we do that we will find that male candidates don’t apply in the right numbers.

“85 per cent of newly appointed judges in France are women because the men stay away. 85 per cent women is just as bad as 85 per cent men.”

Lord Sumption also said: “The bar and the solicitors’ profession are incredibly demanding in the hours of work and the working conditions are frankly appalling. There are more women than men who are not prepared to put up with that.”

His remarks were criticised by a number of lawyers who thought his comments were ill-judged and disrespectful of women in the sector.

Dinah Rose QC, a barrister at Blackstone Chambers, wrote on Twitter: “Here’s what fascinates me: what does Lord Sumption think qualifies him to make these comments? Social scientist as well as a historian?

“Lord Sumption knows nothing about the lives of women at the Bar.

“The assertion that women don’t make it to the top because of lifestyle choices is a gross distortion.”

Max Harding, barrister at 9 Bedford Row, added: “Legal system was made by men for men & has discriminated positively in their favour for centuries. If I was a woman I wouldn’t wait a day.”

A spokesperson for the Supreme Court said: “Some of Lord Sumption’s comments appear to have been misunderstood.

“The full quotes make clear that he believes that increasing diversity at all levels of the profession is important, and that the range of hidden barriers to improving diversity - particularly of the judiciary - present a very complex problem.

“Nowhere did he try and reduce this to a simple question of ‘lifestyle choice’. The concern he expressed was against introducing any form of positive discrimination to the judicial appointments system without careful analysis of the full range of potential consequences.”