Women Barristers and Gender Difference in Australia

Barristers in Australia constitute a small, elite group, enjoying high professional status and often high incomes. This chapter discusses the ways in which barristers’ distinct culture and invented traditions involve the production and performance of hegemonic masculinity, and the implications this has for women at the Bar. While there are various ways in which women can attempt to fit into the culture, their otherness is simultaneously and continually reinforced. Nevertheless, some women have managed to disrupt the codes of hegemonic masculinity, presenting a cultural challenge that is not easily contained.