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Portraits of women of the law: re-envisioning gender, law and the legal professions in law schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2019

Nikki Godden-Rasul*
Affiliation:
Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Abstract

This paper explores law school portraits of women in law as a way to challenge the over-representation of men in law. Portraiture is a long-standing means by which professions celebrate worthy individuals and reproduce institutional values. In relation to law and the legal professions, portraits are predominantly of men and link law with masculine attributes, contributing to the visual and actual marginalisation of women in law's past and present. The paper begins by setting out why portraits of women exhibited in UK law schools are an important way to challenge gender inequalities in law. It then provides a snapshot of the gender dimensions of university and law school portraiture in the UK, before analysing the Inspirational Women of the Law exhibition at Newcastle Law School as a method of disrupting the dominant gendered visual order in law, and bringing into focus women in legal history.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Legal Scholars 2019 

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References

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19 Information about and images from the exhibition can be viewed at http://www.iwlaw.uk/ (accessed 18 January 2019).

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28 As it was on 30 August 2016. The quote (in Court 2) is included on a webpage about the Supreme Court artwork, but there is no mention of Roosevelt: https://www.supremecourt.uk/visiting/new-artwork.html#entrance (accessed 18 January 2019).

29 The portraits can be viewed at https://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/portraits_list/. See also the portraits discussed in ‘Reins of Power’, Schama, S The Face of Britain; The Nation through its Portraits (Viking, 2015) pp 4357Google Scholar; and the Uncomfortable Art Tour running at the National Portrait Gallery in July and August 2018, showing the ways colonialism shaped and funded the national collection, and the history of empire and genocide underpinning British art: https://www.theexhibitionist.org/ (accessed 18 January 2019). A thorough investigation of the ethnic backgrounds of the primary subjects in law portraiture is beyond the scope of this paper, although addressing the homogeneity of portraiture in law to represent the diversity of people who work with law is further discussed below. See in particular text associated with nn 95–96.

30 There are 16 men and five women portrayed. However, there is sometimes more than one portrait of the same person. If these are counted, the numbers look more equal – there are 22 portraits of men and 23 of women. However, 18 of the portraits of women are of the same woman – Alexandra of Denmark (1844–1925), Queen Consort of King Edward VII, as Princess of Wales. Only individual portraits were counted. The portrait collection can be viewed at http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/portraits_list.aspx (accessed 6 February 2018).

32 See http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/collection-highlights/portraits/women-in-parliament (accessed 18 January 2019). For more detail about the exhibition and project history of women in Parliament see http://www.parliament.uk/documents/WORKS-OF-ART/Women-in-Parliament-History-web.pdf (accessed 18 January 2019).

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47 For an overview see H Sommerlad et al ‘Diversity in the legal profession in England and Wales: a qualitative study of barriers and individual choices’, available at http://www.legalservicesboard.org.uk/what_we_do/Research/Publications/pdf/lsb_diversity_in_the_legal_profession_final_rev.pdf (accessed 18 January 2019) at 39–41; Wald, EGlass ceilings and dead ends: professional ideologies, gender stereotypes, and the future of women lawyers at large firms’ (2010) 78 Fordham L Rev 2245, part 4Google Scholar; Sommerlad, HThe gendering of the professional subject: commitment, choice and social closure in the legal profession’ in McGlynn, C (ed) Legal Feminisms: Theory and Practice (UK: Ashgate, 1998)Google Scholar.

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71 Brilliant, above n 23, p 8.

72 Berger, above n 15.

73 M Reisz ‘What purpose do campus art collections serve?’ Times Higher Education (30 July 2015), available at https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/what-purpose-do-campus-art-collections-serve; see also https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/what-is-the-point-of-university-art-collections (accessed 18 January 2019).

75 See http://artuk.org/ (accessed 18 January 2019).

76 Response received 17 August 2016. Apart from John Brooks, former Vice-Chancellor, the others can be viewed on artuk: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/view_as/grid/search/keyword:manchester-metropolitan-university/page/4#artwork-female-nude-203873 (accessed 18 January 2019).

77 Manchester Metropolitan University's oil painting collection as shown on Art UK: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/view_as/grid/search/keyword:manchester-metropolitan-university/page/5#artwork-all-saints-park-manchester-203930 (accessed 18 January 2019).

78 At the time of the freedom of information request response, received 26 August 2016.

79 Warwick University has an online catalogue of the Art Collection, which can be searched, amongst other things, by medium and location: see http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/art/. Filtering to include painting, photograph, drawing, prints, sculpture, glass (and excluding ceramic, textile, collage) across the entire university, there are 816 artworks catalogued, of which I identified 20 as portraits of a single subject (August 2016).

81 Freedom of information response received 7 September 2016.

82 In addition, these 20 portraits are included in NU Women's artwork audit discussed above, making up nearly one third of the pieces of art which feature women displayed in the buildings sampled.

83 See http://www.kcl.ac.uk/law/about/vis-arts/global-portraits.aspx; https://www.flickr.com/photos/kcl_law/20901055521/ (accessed 18 January 2019). There is a large number of artworks on the walls and a great variety in content, style, and so on, as in 2012 the Law School moved to Somerset House East Wing, being rehoused and renamed in part by a £20 million donation from Mr Dickson Poon, and established a series of art and educational exhibitions. For more information, see the School's webpages at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/law/about/vis-arts/index.aspx (accessed 6 February 2018).

85 See above n 83.

86 See above n 77.

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91 Many thanks to Neil Cobb at Manchester Law School for this information.

92 In relation to Oxford University, see R Pells ‘Oxford University unveils new portraits of women and ethnic minorities to “redress diversity”’ The Independent (30 March 2017), available at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/oxford-university-portraits-women-ethnic-minorities-dame-esther-rantzen-hilary-lister-ken-loach-a7657606.html (accessed 18 January 2019); in relation to Sheffield University: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/staff/portraits (accessed 18 January 2019); in relation to Edinburgh University: http://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity/celebrating-diversity/inspiring-women/introduction (accessed 18 January 2019).

93 Goodrich, above n 56, at 835.

94 There are 13 large photographic portraits of 14 women which are the focus of the discussion here. The women portrayed are: Vera Baird, Elsie Edith Bowerman, Myrella Cohen, Lady Hale, Rose Heilbron, Shauneen Lamb, Doreen Lawrence, Cris McCurley, Helena Normanton, Pragna Patel, Gareth Peirce, Navi Pillay, Patricia Scotland and Penelope Warne. The portraits and biographies of the featured women can be found at www.iwlaw.uk (accessed 18 January 2019).

95 National Union of Students, above n 52.

96 You can see the speakers’ profiles at http://www.iwlaw.uk/about-the-event (accessed 18 January 2019).

97 The portraits and launch were funded by the Catherine Cookson Foundation, Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal, digitalab, Squire Patton Boggs, Ward Hadaway, Newcastle University Gender Research Group, Newcastle University Vice-Chancellor, and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning.

98 This photograph is part of the Athena Project by photographer Leonora Saunders, whose work focuses on gender equality in professional and public life: see http://www.leonorasaunders.co.uk/ (accessed 18 January 2019).

99 Moran, above n 14.

100 For examples of cases where Australian, Canadian, and American women judges have been accused of bias see Graycar, RThe gender of judgments: some reflections on bias’ (1998) 32 UBCL Rev 1, esp at 5Google Scholar.

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102 For example, see Hunter, McGlynn and Rackley, above n 6.

103 Indeed, on a more general point, the accessibility of photography has been argued to make it an important tool for marginalised groups to use to participate in image production of their selves and lives; see for example Hooks, above n 15, pp 57–60.

104 Moran, above n 14, at 302.

105 Auchmuty, above n 1, at 19.

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108 Cobb, N and Godden-Rasul, NCampus feminisms: a conversation with Jess Lishak, Women's Officer, University of Manchester Students’ Union, 2014–2016’ (2017) 25 FLS 229Google Scholar.

109 The event was also part of Freedom City 2017, which celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the award to Dr Martin Luther King of an honorary law degree from Newcastle University. The women celebrated are Funke Abimbola, Diamond Ashiagbor, Chrissann Jarrett, Judy Khan, Usha Sood, Marcia Willis Stewart, and Keina Yoshida. For their biographies see http://www.iwlaw.uk/copy-of-the-exhibition (accessed 18 January 2019).

110 Auchmuty and Rackley, above n 1.