It’s been a busy day! No leisurely lunches or naval gazing for me this International Women’s Day.
However, this photo popped up in my Facebook memories feed recently. It is a candid photo of me with some of my school friends at a leadership training camp just before we started Senior at High School. I was 14.
With all the talk about trailblazers and glass ceiling breakers this week, the photo made me think about whether I could have been one of the pioneering women in law.
Queensland has had its fair share of amazing women in the legal profession. My first court appearance was before Judge Margaret McMurdo when she was on the District Court bench (she went on to be President of the Court of Appeal). President McMurdo was appointed as the first female Judge in Queensland as well as the first female President of the Court of Appeal. She is, so far as I can work out, the only sitting Judge in Australia to have taken maternity leave (she had twins!) and the judicial entitlements legislation needed to be amended so that her superannuation benefits could be paid to her husband in the event of her death (the Act previously only allowed for benefits to be paid to the Judge’s wife).
She was also an absolute joy to appear before and was incredibly gentle to a desperately nervous law clerk back in 1995.
As the senior law student at the Womens’ College, I hosted Justice Susan Kiefel who was then on the Federal Court to our formal academic dinner – she has recently been appointed as Australia’s first ever female Chief Justice of the High Court. The then Justice Kiefel was and is a formidable intellect. She was also good company and had a great sense of humor.
Queensland’s current Chief Justice Catherine Holmes, again the first woman to hold that post, gave a presentation at the Queensland Law Society Symposium I attended in 2001. Never having appeared before the then Justice Holmes, I did not realise who she was when she came over to me before the presentation commenced. She asked if I had any experience in Judicial Review to which I responded that I worked in Personal Injuries but I felt that Judicial Review was under-utilised in that area. She floored me by quoting me in her presentation.
These women are from a generation who entered the profession when they were a significant minority. I know they faced discrimination and challenges that I have not because they paved the way. However, what struck me with each of them was their efforts to engage and encourage me. These efforts were not condescending or grand gestures, they were simple acts of kindness for which I am grateful.
When I reflect on myself as a schoolgirl I am not convinced I could have been a trailblazer. I don’t think I had the confidence – socially or intellectually to strike out in a male dominated career. However, I can remember what I was doing in this photo. I was doing what seems to come naturally to me – putting forward an argument.
The opportunities that opened to me because of the example set by those brave women who came before me have meant that I can be true to myself. I never forget that.
