Advocating Girls: Women and the Justice System

We were proud and delighted on Wednesday night (15 November) to gather at Gray’s Inn to launch Advocating Girls: Women and the Justice System and celebrate 100 years of women in advocacy. 

Spearheaded by Fionnuala Kennedy, Head; Will le Fleming, Head, the Abbey School and Jenny Brown, Headmistress, City of London School for Girls, Advocating Girls brought together 90 students from 6 partner schools and professionals from the court and justice systems to mark 100 years of women in law and to address issues facing women in the justice system today. As Fionnuala explained;

“As Heads we lead a coalition of schools with the rights and interests of girls and women as our core purpose. We need a justice system that understands and defends those interests as part of meaningful equality. Our goal is to bring together school students and professionals to work towards that end. Women have been permitted to serve as advocates in law for just over a century. As we look to the coming decades, we are united in our desire to support girls as they continue to advocate for justice in their own cause and justice for all.”

Welcomed by our host, Lady Justice Geraldine Andrews, at Gray’s Inn, guests from Wimbledon High School and Harris Academy Wimbledon were joined by City of London School for Girls and City of London Academy Highgate Hill, The Abbey School Reading and The Holt School Wokingham. An address by the Right Honourable Lady Justice Geraldine Andrews DBE was followed by inspiring performances from students, including one from Wimbledon High School and Harris Academy Wimbledon inspired by Mary Wollstonecraft and Emmeline Pankhurst.

A panel of notable female figures from the judiciary, The Right Honourable Baroness Shami Chakrabarti CBE, Her Honour Judge Anuja Dhir KC, Caroline Carberry KC and Sultana Tafdar KC discussed the continuing challenges of striving for fairness and equality, both under and within the law. On a day which saw The Supreme Court unanimously uphold a Court of Appeal ruling on the Government’s Rwandan policy and human rights breaches, the Q&A included some insightful and probing questions from WHS students (of course) about the interrelation of justice and politics, as well as the practical challenges affecting workforce retention and access to a career in law. 

WHS alumnae Sara Nathan OBE, King’s Counsel Appointments Panel, Naznin Islam, barrister at Pump Court Chambers and Ava Vakil, campaigner and women’s rights advocate, joined Wimbledon High Sixth Formers and staff at the Networking Reception alongside many other representatives from the justice system, giving plenty of opportunity for students to pursue queries raised in the Q&A in more detail. On display was the ‘100 Years of Women at the Bar’ exhibition, on loan from the Judicial Office, which charts the legacy and history of women in law since the Sex Disqualification (removal) Act paved the way for women to become lawyers for the first time in 1919.

Sixth Form student Isabel attended the event and discussed the experience: "Naima, from Harris Wimbledon, and I were tasked with rounding off the panel discussion by providing a brief summary of the main discussion points and our favourite moments. The key takeaway for me was the conversation about the difficulty of retention of women in the law sector as a result of old-fashioned conventions primarily surrounding maternity leave and the impact this has on representation for senior positions in law. 

The event was a lovely opportunity to meet other students from across London who shared similar passions for advocacy and law as well as have the opportunity to question the panel members in small groups. My fellow A-level Politics students and I especially enjoyed an intimate discussion with Baroness Shami Chakrabarti CBE (a human rights activist, lawyer, and now life peer) about the very recent Supreme Court Rwanda decision (it had been published just hours before the event) and the difficulties surrounding AI and democracy. 

I cannot wait to see the further opportunities this partnership provides and I hope many students at Wimbledon High have the opportunity to benefit from it."

Fionnuala Kennedy added: “The launch was all about making connections and sharing perspectives, about celebrating 100 years of women in advocacy, thinking through issues facing women in the justice system today, and turning our minds to the future. Advocating Girls, though, is also a campaign, and I am hoping very much that this wonderful event was just the starting point.”