On 27 February 2014, the Honourable Justice Ruth McColl (AO) gave an address to members of the Women Lawyers Association of New South Wales. In front of an audience that included alumni of the ‘FW2’ club (those ‘first woman to’ occupy a senior position in the judiciary), McColl celebrated the achievements of Australian women appointed to courts at all levels of the Australian judicial hierarchy, except for the High Court. As well as possessing the qualities required to occupy judicial office, such as ‘intelligence, independence of mind’ [and] strong work ethic’, she said, they also demonstrated an essential prerequisite for most women who did so, ‘the courage to be a groundbreaker’. Describing the experiences of Women Lawyers NSW’s patron, Justice Jane Mathews, she observed how much has changed for women in the judiciary and how opportunities to take on leadership roles have been opened up since the early days when Justice Mathews ‘suffered severely at the Bar from prejudice and discrimination’.

While celebrating progress, Justice McColl, the first female president of the NSW Bar Association, warned against complacency. ‘[W]omen’s empowerment,’ she reminded her audience:

not the least of course in the legal profession, is a journey. While the journey to judicial appointment, or promotion as the case may be, may be over for this evening’s guests, the journey’s end is not yet in sight for the legal profession.

Of particular concern to McColl were the ‘worrying signs’ that the Federal government is winding back measures to promote greater gender diversity on the bench. Changes introduced by the former Labor government in 2008 to improve the transparency of the appointment process for federal judges appeared to have been scrapped by the new Coalition government.