Great question. It is vital to hear from female solicitors about why they are not applying to the Bar. However, if I was to guess, I imagine it is a combination of a lack of paid parental leave because of self-employment... https://twitter.com/PeatWorrier/status/1276480996142178305

and the difficulty of balancing work with family life because of the unpredictable nature of the work. Unfortunately, I believe the burden of childcare disproportionately still falls on women, so these are likely to be bigger factors for women than men.

According to the Bar Standards Board, 38% of the Bar in England and Wales is female whereas about a third of Faculty is female.

I cannot find a clear answer but the BSB’s diversity data might include the employed Bar (which is about 20% of all practising barristers in England and Wales) whereas all practising members of Faculty are self-employed.

Some interesting questions: (1) do employed barristers account for the difference in gender-split between the two Bars? (2) does the gender-split in both jurisdictions reflect the self-employment gender-split (data shows 33% of self-employed people are women and 67% are men)?

However, we should absolutely be thinking about what more can be done to attract women to the Bar, and I know there has been a strong focus on this (and wider equality and diversity issues) in recent years. I would be interested to hear ideas!