Unequal Partners? Women Solicitors' Experiences of Workplace, Discrimination, Flexibility and Success in Queensland.

Abstract

This thesis explores issues of discrimination, flexibility, and success in the solicitors’ branch of the Queensland legal profession. It interrogates the discrimination and disadvantage practitioners report in their daily legal practice; whether they have access to achievable flexible workplace policies and practices; and whether they feel able to attain success, however that might be defined by individual lawyers.

Although there have been numerous studies on the circumstances of women lawyers in other jurisdictions, no work had been carried out in Queensland at the inception of this doctoral research. There is no subsequent Queensland work that explores the specific circumstances of solicitors within the three key areas of discrimination, workplace flexibility and success. This thesis addresses this gap.

The central research question in the thesis asks whether, and to what extent, prejudice and gender bias exist within the profession. Findings are analysed and set against the backdrop of extensive literature on women in the profession both within Australia and overseas. The research adopts a multi-method approach within an over-arching feminist framework. Qualitative and quantitative methods have been utilised, with the principal data being collected through a State-wide anonymous survey and a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews...