The signatories represent one in five practising certificate holders in New Zealand
The New Zealand Law Society’s Gender Equality Charter has reached a milestone, with 100 legal workplaces committing to its goals.
The signatories represent one in five, or more than 2,700 of the 13,300 lawyers that have practising certificates in New Zealand, the Law Society said.
“This is a remarkable achievement. Earlier this year the Law Society released the results of a Workplace Environment Survey which made it very clear to us that lawyers value workplace culture. We now have 20% of lawyers working in environments where the Gender Equality Charter is now part of the cultural fabric,” Law Society President Kathryn Beck said.
“Ideally we’d like to see all legal workplaces sign up to the Gender Equality Charter. One hundred signatories before the year has ended gives us confidence that such a milestone could be achieved,” she said.
Launched in April in Parliament, the charter’s primary purpose is to improve the retention and advancement of women in the legal profession. Its commitments are also relevant to the broader push for more diversity in legal workplaces.
Signatories commit to have leaders responsible for achieving gender equality goals; implementing plans that tackle unconscious bias, the gender pay gap, and flexible working arrangements; and measuring progress through annual audits and biannual reports to the Law Society.
