INSPIRING INCLUSIVITY – FOUNDATION RICHMOND PROFILE INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN. NUMBER THREE: BARONESS HALE.
In the run up to International Women’s Day on Friday March 8th March, we continue to showcase local charity Foundation Richmond’s profiles of inspirational women from local communities. This will hopefully help raise awareness of Foundation Richmond, International Women’s Day and of course, our amazing alumni!
EQUAL TO EVERYTHING
On International Women’s Day Eve we are celebrating The Right Hon. The Baroness Hale of Richmond and all that she has done to promote women in the field of Law.
The former student and Headgirl at Richmond School, went on to become the first female president of the UK Supreme Court, the most senior judge in Britain. She called for more women and greater diversity in the top ranks of the judiciary and was quoted saying that she hoped her appointment would ‘set a good example to those wonderful able young women who want to aspire to the top.”
Much of Baroness Hale’s work is focused on women’s rights. When she became a Law Lord in 2004, she created a coat of arms, with the motto “Omina Feminae Aequissimae – Women are equal to everything”, and called for all judges to be “committed to the principle of equality for all”.
Growing up in Scorton, she attended Richmond School for seven years and was subsequently the first girl from school to go to Cambridge and the first to read law. Following her graduation, she moved to Manchester to be a university teacher and qualified as a barrister. She went on to write a book about mental health law and her career developed, moving up the ranks from Assistant Recorder to Law Commissioner, to Family Commission Judge, becoming the first woman Law Lord and culminating in being appointed the first female president of the Supreme Court. For many years, Baroness Hale was the only woman in the Supreme Court but gradually things are changing and the diversity picture is improving with a greater representation of ethnic minorities and women. During a presentation to students at Richmond School, Baroness Hale said that it really matters that our judges are more diverse because they are deciding the fate of everybody in the community and it must not be a narrow, elite group from society that decides people’s futures. She explained that fairness, justice and equality are three key values and it does not look professional if those administering the law are not reflecting these.
Baroness Hale released her autobiography ‘Spider Woman’ A life, by Lady Hale in 2021 – you can find out more about her book at this link: