International Bar Association ‘Raising the Bar: Women in Law Project’
2 February 2026
On 29 January 2026, the International Bar Association (IBA), in collaboration with the Law Council, published the Australia Results Report as part of the IBA’s Raising the Bar: Women in Law Project.
The project examines the number of women lawyers in senior positions in sixteen jurisdictions around the world, as well as measures and initiatives implemented to address gender equality. The project aims to provide a blueprint to achieve gender equality at the highest levels of the legal profession by 2030.
In a foreword to the Australia Report, Juliana Warner, Law Council President 2025, wrote:
‘I have enjoyed a challenging and rewarding career as a commercial litigator in Australia. However, I have encountered the same obstacles facing many women lawyers as they endeavour to balance a demanding career with family and carer responsibilities.’
Ms Warner acknowledged the purposeful advocacy and determined leadership of legal practitioners across Australia to achieve meaningful change in Australian workplaces to promote gender equality and the ‘continuing efforts to ensure that the legal profession is adaptive to and supportive of the needs of the talented and dedicated women who seek a career in the law’.
The Australia Report found that, across organisations that participated in the study, 58 per cent of lawyers are women and 45 percent of senior lawyers are women, compared with an average of 47 per cent and 38 per cent respectively in the countries studied by the IBA to date.
In Australian law firms that participated in the study, 59 per cent of lawyers and 42 per cent of senior lawyers are women. At participating barristers’ chambers, 23 per cent of barristers are women and 14 per cent of Senior Counsel are women.
The Australia Report found that the most commonly offered and most effective initiative to promote gender equality in Australian legal workplaces was flexible working. All law firms and 50 per cent of barristers’ chambers that responded to the survey offered flexible working arrangements. The Australia Report found that 50 per cent of responding barristers’ chambers had no initiatives in place to address gender equality.
Last Updated on 04/02/2026
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