Letter: measure of equality

It is a rare event which motivates me to take time from the day job to correspond with the Journal. However, the article “Some more equal than others” (Journal, November 2013, 10) has done so.

What basis has your article for stating: “[while] those from ethnic minorities and LGBT groups or with disabilities are all more likely than other, on the survey findings, to have experienced discrimination, their numbers in the profession are low”?

It then goes on to quote the view: “The person who wins is the person that can sit at their desk the longest, and that’s not going to be women because they are society’s main carers.”

I thought we lived in the 21st century, where there was no need to be at a desk at all? It is perfectly possible to do a great many of our profession’s tasks from anywhere with a wifi connection. Are there no male single parents who are lawyers? I suspect so.

The point of course is that if we are to truly recognise and deal with equality, we require to start by working from accurate foundations.

I suggest that those two quotes from your article may show we have some way to go in cementing the real 21st century foundations (pun intended) needed to achieve the noble aim of gender equality. It is insulting for the good doctor to suggest that solicitors cannot put aside bias. Is that not what we spend our lives doing in order to serve all sections of society who require our assistance?

I could go on about the outright prejudices contained within the article. However, I respect that everyone, including “millennials”, is entitled to their opinion. I hope that I am entitled to disagree? It is interesting that it is a woman who sees men as “the problem population”, or is it the other way around? I am unclear.

Perhaps you can enlighten me?