Law360 Canada (July 3, 2026, 10:36 AM EDT) --

Deepa Mattoo

The International Bar Association’s (IBA) recent report marks a meaningful demographic milestone: women now form a majority of the Canadian legal profession. Combined with the historic female majority on the Supreme Court of Canada, it signals progress that deserves recognition.

But demographic milestones, however encouraging, do not resolve the structural realities that shape daily legal practice. Parity at entry is not the same as equity in the profession.

For many women, gender-diverse people and racialized professionals, law is a tool for systemic change rather than a pathway to traditional commercial success. Canadian law schools have admitted classes at or above 50 per cent women for more than a decade. These students arrive expecting a profession that reflects contemporary values such as mental health, safety, equity and trauma-informed practice. These expectations arise from lived experience, and from the realities of evolution of society.

The IBA’s findings highlight this tension clearly. Women and gender-diverse practitioners enter the profession in record numbers yet remain underrepresented in senior decision-making roles within private practice. Law society data shows near parity among junior associates, but partnership tracks continue to reflect older patterns. The IBA also notes that women comprise 60 per cent of lawyers in public and in-house roles. This distribution underscores how private-sector structures must evolve if they are to retain the talent they attract.

This imbalance has direct consequences for access to justice. The responsibility for legal aid certificates, community-based intakes and unbundled pro bono or low-bono work falls disproportionately on women, gender-diverse practitioners and sole practitioners. National and provincial demographic snapshots consistently show that racialized women are overrepresented in these essential sectors. They also lead much of the policy development, law reform and advocacy that supports social services and non-profit organizations. These contributions are indispensable, yet the sectors in which they occur remain economically undervalued.

Pay equity remains a persistent concern. The Canadian Bar Association’s 2022 report confirms a gender wage gap even within identical roles. Women, especially racialized women, continue to work longer hours, carry heavier operational loads and receive lower financial returns. This is not a reflection of individual choices; it is a reflection of how the profession values certain forms of work.

Internationally trained lawyers face additional barriers. The National Committee on Accreditation process and provincial licensing requirements create parallel hurdles that many foreign-trained practitioners must navigate without access to domestic recruitment pipelines. These barriers represent a significant loss to communities that rely on multilingual, culturally competent legal support.

When we look beyond representation numbers, we see a profession experiencing attrition. Women and gender-diverse practitioners are leaving private practice due to burnout, rigid billable-hour expectations and unresolved workplace harm. A research study I led last year, funded by the Law Society of Ontario through the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, found that traditional institutional responses often fail to resolve harm. Instead, they create defensive structures that force practitioners to choose between their careers and their safety.

Parity at entry is meaningful, but it is not enough. Equity in leadership will only emerge when the profession addresses the structural conditions that drive people out. Access to justice cannot be sustained when the lawyers delivering it are economically strained and structurally marginalized.

Yet the demographic shift has created momentum. The presence of women and gender-diverse professionals has brought trauma-informed leadership, mental health and institutional safety into mainstream professional discourse. Their voices are reshaping expectations across the bar. By recognizing how far we have come, we strengthen our ability to build a legal culture that aligns its internal practices with the justice it seeks to uphold.

Deepa Mattoo is the CEO of YWCA Toronto and a licensed barrister and solicitor in Ontario. A recipient of the Law Society Medal, she is the former executive director of the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic and a deeply experienced human rights advocate who has led systemic law reform and litigation before all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Her work centres on intersectional equity, and she frequently provides international expertise and training on trauma-informed legal practice and access to justice for survivors of gender-based violence.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the author’s firm, its clients, Law360 Canada, LexisNexis Canada or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

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