Mapping the Representation of Women and Men in Legal Professions Across the EU
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DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT FOR CITIZENS' RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS Mapping the Representation of Women and Men in Legal Professions Across the EU STUDY Abstract Upon request by the Committee on Legal Affairs, this study analysis is mapping across all 28 EU Member States the representation of women and men in legal professions. The aim of this study is to identify areas where women or men are currently underrepresented and to analyse the underlying reasons and constraints. PE 596.804 EN ABOUT THE PUBLICATION This research paper was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and commissioned, overseen and published by the Policy Department for Citizen's Rights and Constitutional Affairs. Policy departments provide independent expertise, both in-house and externally, to support European Parliament committees and other parliamentary bodies in shaping legislation and exercising democratic scrutiny over EU external and internal policies. To contact the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs. or to subscribe to its newsletter please write to: [email protected] AUTHORS Yvonne Galligan, Renate Haupfleisch, Lisa Irvine, Katja Korolkova, Monika Natter, Ulrike Schultz, Sally Wheeler RESPONSIBLE ADMINISTRATOR Udo Bux Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs European Parliament B-1047 Bruxelles E-mail: [email protected] EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Monika Laura Lazaruk LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN ABOUT THE EDITOR Policy Departments provide in-house and external expertise to support EP committees and other parliamentary bodies in shaping legislation and exercising democratic scrutiny. To contact the Policy Department or to subscribe to its newsletter please write to: [email protected] European Parliament, manuscript completed in July 2017. © European Union, Brussels, 2017. This document is available on the Internet at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies DISCLAIMER The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorized, provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. 2 CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 5 Country Abberviations 6 LIST OF TABLES, Figures and Boxes 7 EXPLANATION OF TERMINOLOGY USED 10 Executive summary 12 1. Introduction 14 2. Methodology 15 2.1. Literature review 15 2.2. Data on legal professions and legal education 15 2.3. Survey among stakeholders 16 3. Historical overview 18 3.1. The way into the legal professions 19 3.2. The development of gender distribution in legal education 20 3.3. Different legal traditions and cultures 21 3.4. Increase in numbers of students and practitioners 22 3.5. Impact factors on the gender situation in the legal professions 22 3.5.1. Social status 22 3.5.2. Political systems 23 3.5.3. Internationalisation 23 3.5.4. Economic situation 23 3.6. The gender distribution in different professions 23 3.6.1. Lawyers 23 3.6.2. Notaries 24 3.6.3. Judges and prosecutors 25 3.6.4. Women in non-traditional legal occupations 26 3.6.5. Women in legal academia 26 3.7. Special regulations and measures to protect professional women 27 4. Literature review on gender equality in the legal field 28 4.1. Arguments for gender equality in the judiciary 28 4.1.1. Equal opportunities and fairness 28 4.1.2. Democratic legitimacy 28 4.1.3. Women making a difference 29 4.1.4. Further arguments 30 4.2. Barriers to achieving gender equality in the legal professions 30 3 Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 4.2.1. The merit argument against promoting gender equality 32 4.3. Measures to promote gender equality in the legal professions 33 4.4. Quotas in the legal field 36 4.4.1. Quotas: where? 36 4.4.2. Arguments in favour of quotas 40 4.4.3. Concerns regarding quota regulations 40 4.5. Promoting gender equality in law firms 43 4.5.1. The business case for gender equality and the debate on fixing the women or fixing the firms 43 4.5.2. Case study 44 5. Data analysis and main findings 47 5.1. Approach used for data collection 47 5.2. Overview of the situation of gender equality in legal professions 48 5.2.1. Court staff 48 5.2.2. Lawyers 62 5.2.3. Notaries 68 5.3. Overview of the situation of gender equality in legal education 69 5.3.1. Students, graduates and doctorates of law in EU Member States 69 5.3.2. Professors 74 6. Consultation with stakeholders 76 6.1. Survey among European associations 76 6.2. Survey among national notary associations- summary of responses 77 7. Conclusions and Policy recommendations 86 7.1. Conclusions 86 7.2. Policy recommendations 89 References 91 Annex: Data Tables 102 4 Mapping the Representation of Women and Men in Legal Professions Across the EU ____________________________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACA-Europe Association of the councils of State and Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions of the EU CCBE Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe CEPEJ European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice CJEU Court of Justice of the European Union CNUE Council of the Notariats of the European Union CSR Corporate Social Responsibility ECHR European Court of Human Rights ECLA European Company Lawyers Association EJTN European Judicial Training Network ENCJ European Network of Councils for the Judiciary ERA Academy of European Law EWLA European Women Lawyers Association FEMM European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality ICC International Criminal Court JURI European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs NA Not available NAP Not applicable 5 Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs ____________________________________________________________________________________________ COUNTRY ABBERVIATIONS AT Austria IE Ireland BE Belgium IT Italy BG Bulgaria LT Lithuania CY Cyprus LU Luxembourg CZ Czech Republic LV Latvia DE Germany MT Malta DK Denmark NL The Netherlands EE Estonia PO Poland EL Greece PT Portugal ES Spain RO Romania FI Finland SE Sweden FR France SI Slovenia HR Croatia SK Slovakia HU Hungary UK United Kingdom UK-E&W England and Wales UK-NI Northern Ireland 6 Mapping the Representation of Women and Men in Legal Professions Across the EU ____________________________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND BOXES TABLES Table 3.1: First Women in the Legal Profession Table 6.1: Number of trainers at ERA Table 6.2: Number of trainees at ERA Table 6.3: Notary survey – Rate of response Table 6.4: Notary survey – Gender related imbalances Table 6.5: Notary survey – Comments on gender imbalances in the notarial profession Table 6.6: Notary survey – Measures to tackle imbalances, gender monitoring and research Table 6.7: Notary survey – Information on gender related research/projects Table 6.8: Notary survey – Information regarding monitoring Table 6.9: Notary survey – Measures/actions to tackle gender imbalances Table 6.10: Notary survey – Action necessary to tackle gender imbalances Table 6.11: Notary survey – Existing legal provisions promoting gender equality in the legal professions BOXES Box 4.1: Case study: Active approach to creating a more diverse judiciary in Ontario, Canada Box 4.2: Case study: Action Plan for the advancement of women in the legal field in Austria Box 4.3: Case study: Gender quotas in the Belgian Constitutional Court Box 4.4: Case study: Promoting gender balance at law firm level: The example of Taj Box 5.1: Women solicitors in Ireland FIGURES Figure 5.1: Professional Judges 2014, women and men Figure 5.2: Judges of first instance 2014, women and men Figure 5.3: Judges of second instance 2014, women and men Figure 5.4: Supreme Court Judges 2014, women and men Figure 5.5: Court Presidents 2014, women and men Figure 5.6: Court of First Instance Presidents 2014, women and men 7 Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Figure 5.7: Court of Second Instance Presidents 2014, women and men Figure 5.8: Supreme Court Presidents 2014, women and men Figure 5.9: Non-Judge Staff 2014, women and men Figure 5.10: Rechtspfleger 2014, women and men Figure 5.11: Staff assisting judges 2014, women and men Figure 5.12: Administrative Staff 2014, women and men Figure 5.13: Technical Staff 2014, women and men Figure 5.14: Public Prosecutors 2014, women and men Figure 5.15: Public Prosecutors First Instance Courts 2014, women and men Figure 5.16: Public Prosecutors Second Instance Courts 2014, women and men Figure 5.17: Public Prosecutors Supreme Court 2014, women and men Figure 5.18: Head of Prosecutors’ Office 2014, women and men Figure 5.19: Head of Prosecution Office for Courts of First Instance 2014, women and men Figure 5.20: Head of Prosecution Office for Courts of Second Instance 2014, women and men Figure 5.21: Head of Prosecution Office for Supreme Courts 2014, women and men Figure 5.22: Members of the Bar in the European Union 2004-2014, women and men Figure 5.23: Female members of the Bar in the European Union 2005 and 2014 Figure 5.24a: Female lawyers in Eastern Europe