The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is #DigitALL. It raises the issue of innovation and technology for gender equality.

Here at Burd Ward we also celebrate the women’s achievements and contributions that they make to the running of the business. We strive to support the innovation of the women that work within and support our business. Equally, we extend this to our clients also.

In the area of family law there is much to be celebrated in terms of significant milestones in family law which supports the progression of women’s equality and innovation. We acknowledge that there are still barriers to women being able to access the technology they need to progress, and we support all efforts made to rectify this.

Baroness Hale has been a champion for the rights of women and marginalized groups, and she has used her position to advocate for greater equality and access to justice in family law. Her contributions to family law have helped to shape the legal landscape in the UK and have had a significant impact on the lives of many individuals and families; a prominent legal scholar and jurist who has made significant contributions to the development of family law in the United Kingdom; she was appointed the first lady to the Law Commission and the first female law lord. Throughout her career, A key moment which highlights her dedication towards the equal rights of women was when she wore a coat of arms which read “women are equal to everything” in Latin at the House of Lords in 2004.

Baroness Hale was also involved in several notable family law cases during her tenure on the Supreme Court. In 2018, she delivered the leading judgment in the case of Owens v Owens, which concerned the grounds for divorce in England and Wales. In this case, she argued that the law on divorce needed to be reformed to allow for no-fault divorce, as the existing system was outdated and unnecessarily punitive.

In relation to this is the progress towards gender equality through the recognition of women’s right to divorce. The area of divorce has seen key changes in terms of the bias towards men, as originally, women were denied the right to divorce, and their marriages were often viewed as contracts that could not be broken. Women who sought a divorce were often stigmatized and faced social ostracism. The recognition of women’s right to divorce has given women the freedom to leave unhappy or abusive marriages and start afresh.

At Burd Ward we work in collaboration with charities such as Wirral Women and Children’s Aid and Tomorrow’s Women to assist women being able to access legal assistance.

We at Burd Ward Solicitors celebrate the achievements of gender equality and expansion of women’s rights in their totality.