The focus of the Raising the Bar: Women in Law Project report is taken from the results of a landmark survey conducted by the IBA in 2025, which gathered information from over 5,000 women about their personal experiences in the legal profession, spanning 100 jurisdictions. The project forms part of the International Bar Association’s global initiative examining gender equality and career progression in the legal profession. The report provides a global snapshot of the challenges women continue to face in the legal profession and identifies actionable strategies to improve equality and career progression.

19 per cent of respondents had fewer than five years’ experience, 17 per cent had between six and ten years’ experience, and 63 per cent had been practising for more than a decade. 64 per cent of respondents were balancing caring responsibilities alongside paid work. Women now make up a large proportion of entrants to the legal profession, but senior leadership roles remain disproportionately male in many jurisdictions.

The report found that 33 per cent of those surveyed indicated that flexible working had had the greatest impact on their career progression. 

Showing signs that little has changed even in the past decade, only 59 per cent reported having access to flexible working arrangements, 40 per cent to coaching and mentoring programmes, and only 20 per cent to leadership training. Additionally workplace cultures still reward long-hours visibility rather than productivity and a number of respondents reported experiencing bias or discrimination during their careers.

The report’s main recommendations included:

1. Striving for structural and cultural change around workplace initiatives ensuring visibility and accessibility.
2. Embedding flexible work practices - normalising flexible work to reduce stigma, promote equitable application of flexible work policies and support retention.
3. Building sustainable career pathways for women - addressing barriers to women’s advancement through formalised coaching and mentoring programmes, targeted training and transparency.
4. Supporting women’s wellbeing - promoting and supporting women’s wellbeing in the profession.
5. Recognising and supporting life stages and caring responsibilities, including those experiencing different life stages such as menopause, and parents and carers.
6. Support for solo practitioners, smaller workplaces and women in chambers recommendations to ensure women working as solo practitioners, in smaller workplaces and in barristers’ chambers are better supported.

The report highlights ongoing structural barriers affecting women’s progression in the legal profession and emphasises the importance of institutional reforms aimed at improving retention, leadership representation and workplace culture, noting “It is evident from the survey responses that structural change to support women’s progression across all sectors is still needed, as is cultural change within the profession.”