Old boys' club puts women off judiciary

WOMEN lawyers are being put off applying to join the judiciary, believing it is dominated by "old fashioned, fustian" men who indulge in "intellectual posturing", a report warned today.

Commissioned by the Judicial Executive Board, it says potential female applicants viewed the Bench as an unattractive prospect and feared its members might be hostile to women.

It also suggested barristers and solicitors from ethnic minority backgrounds were being similarly deterred - even though such fears were not always justified - and said problems were likely to continue until the judiciary became more representative.

The report suggests many barristers and solicitors did not apply because a judge's £165,900 salary involved a sacrifice of their £1 million earnings.

Produced by Professor Hazel Glenn after interviews with six High Court judges and 29 highly qualified barristers and solicitors, the report says finance is the biggest consideration, but women are often deterred by the judiciary's male-dominated nature.

"There was unease about the absence of female role models and possible loneliness," it added.