Pretoria - The Gauteng High Court’s Pretoria and Johannesburg divisions will this week hold ceremonial sittings to commemorate the centenary of the Women Legal Practice Act, which opened the doors and paved the way for women to join the legal fraternity in the country.
Yesterday the Office of the Chief Justice said prior to the Act of 1923, the courts had ruled that women were not included as “persons” who could be admitted to legal practice.
However, the enactment of the act turned this around as it served to open the door to women by decreeing that “women shall be entitled to be admitted to practice and to be enrolled as advocates, attorneys, notaries public or conveyancers in any province of the Union subject to the same terms and conditions which applied to men”.
“It did not take long for women to take active steps to become legal practitioners, and the first woman to be admitted as an advocate in South Africa was Irene Geffin in 1923, the very same year the act was passed,” the office said.
It said that although the first woman attorney admitted was Constance Mary Hall, in 1926, due to the existence of apartheid, it took longer for black women to join the ranks, with Desiree Finca being enrolled as the first black woman attorney only in 1967.
For this historic celebratory occasion, Finca, together with direct descendants of Geffin and of Madeline Wookey – who fought for the right to practise law in the early 20th century – will attend the various sittings as special guests, the office said.
On Tuesday an event will be hosted in collaboration with the South African chapter of the International Association of Women Judges and the 100 More Campaign to mark the historic moment.
The ceremonial sittings will bring together women from legal practice, legal institutions, and the judiciary to honour these pioneering women, reflect on the journey of women in the legal profession and reaffirm the commitment as a collective to promote the constitutional rights of equality and human dignity.
Nomaswazi Shabangu-Mndawe, president of the South African Women Lawyers Association’, said the enactment of the law served as an extremely significant milestone for women.
Shabangu-Mndawe said what was more puzzling was that, before the enactment of the law, even though women were allowed to study law and obtain a degree in law, they were still not allowed to practise or be admitted.
She added that while the law was enacted and doors were opened, women were still battling to succeed and thrive due to the prevailing discrimination in the field.
“Women are allowed in law, but we are not getting the same briefs and instructions as our male counterparts, which ultimately affects our ability to grow and have the experience needed to move into positions such as judges.
“There is no political will, and we often see that it is still predominately men, especially white men, who appear on behalf of SOEs, presidents and even corporates. How will women grow unless efforts are taken to ensure they get the same briefs as their counterparts?”
In fact, Shabangu-Mndawe said, things were further exacerbated by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw a lot of female-led law practices being forced to close their doors within months of opening them.
“Slowly we are getting there, but the challenge is that we are still being overlooked. I think the first 100 years was to say we want to be seen and as capable as male practitioners, but the next 100 is to say we want to be economically empowered and given the same opportunities.”
Pretoria News