Women may be half of the workforce, but they have largely been concentrated in lower-paying service jobs like waitresses, retail workers and administrative assistants. However, they could be scaling up.
Women are beginning to pour into professional occupations that require more education and offer higher pay and status.
In fact, by 2020, women are expected to account for more than half of all solicitors – for the first time becoming the majority gender in the profession. This is according to a report – The Future of Legal Services – produced internally by the Law Society’s specialist committees.
Law Society analyses the challenges facing practitioners and opportunities.
The report finds the solicitors’ profession is still growing overall – by nearly 35 per cent between 2004 and 2014 when there was a total of 130,382 solicitors in England and Wales with practising certificates. In that time, the proportion of women rose significantly.