International Women’s Day 2026 Roundtable: Rights. Justice. Action. For all women and girls.

WHAT DOES EQUAL JUSTICE MEAN TO YOU?

Olwyn Barry: In an effort to narrow down such a broad aspiration, and with International Women’s Day in mind, the concept of “equal justice” to me is a legal, social and professional landscape where my son and my daughters feel equally empowered and can have the same ambitions, opportunities as well as obstacles irrespective of their gender.

On a broader level, the goal of equal justice of course goes far beyond gender issues and requires an inclusive legal and socio-political environment that serves and protects the vulnerable as robustly as it does the powerful.  That doesn’t always involve treating everyone in an identical manner but rather creating a system that identifies, and compensates for, imbalance.

Fiona Chan: I perceive equal justice as a subset of the core values of diversity and inclusion, focusing on breaking down barriers to unfair treatment within institutions or under the law generally.  In particular, the equity element entails distribution of resources based on characteristics of individuals so as to remove inherent imbalances.  The creation and maintenance of a just society and environment is key to equal participation of everyone without facing systematic or institutional disadvantage due to their background and characteristics.  A unique example in Hong Kong was the passing of an ordinance in 1994 to enable female indigenous residents of the New Territories (the last area in Hong Kong to continue with certain customary law from the Qing Dynasty) to have rights to land inheritance.  Female indigenous villagers were finally given equal right to participate in elections in 1995.  With female friends descending from this root, I had heard one too many stories about the desperation and frustration that women in the modern age still encountered.  The final victory addressed a longstanding barrier to equal justice for women.

Nadia Lewis: When all rights, choices and opportunities are freely available to all equally  and these are exercised free of judgement, barriers and negativity.

SOME BARRIERS TO EQUAL JUSTICE ARE HISTORICAL, WHILE OTHERS ARE EMERGING. IN YOUR OPINION, WHICH MODERN CHALLENGES MIGHT CREATE NEW RISKS OR BARRIERS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS?

Olwyn Barry: There have been extensive, commendable developments in the area of gender equity and great strides have been made to overcome the more obvious barriers.  Of course, challenges remain and it is inevitable that new ones will emerge and we will need to adapt to overcome those as they arise. Some of these current issues are perhaps less tangible and less visible than the historic ones and that in itself poses a challenge.

One modern challenge is the perception that gender equality initiatives amount to reverse discrimination against men and preferential treatment to women rather than being viewed as positive, corrective steps that address historical barriers and seek to bring professional and social norms in line with modern realities.

Research by Ipsos / King’s College London just last year for IWD 2025 showed poll responses across 30 countries indicating that about half of poll participants felt that “things have gone far enough” (50%), “men are being expected to do too much to support equality” (46%) and “we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that we are discriminating against men” (45%).

If not effectively addressed, that narrative runs the risk of creating unnecessary competition, undermining public support for equality initiatives and distorting what those initiatives are trying to achieve.  A slight reframe of the narrative can put this in a more positive and inclusive light. Rather than seeking to give females an unfair advantage to the disadvantage of men, these initiatives aim to counter long-standing obstacles faced by females, to even the playing field and to modernize social norms.  Much like how a golf handicap is not designed to give one player an unfair advantage over another.  Rather, it is a system that acknowledges the different starting positions of each player and works to ensure that each player is actually playing the same game in a way that is worthwhile for everyone to show up and compete.

Fiona Chan: One area of rapid transformation in the modern world is the advancement and reliance on technology by the judicial system.  Courts in certain countries have embraced the power of algorithms as a convenient tool to deliver equal justice by replacing human judgment with data prediction.  These usually apply to bail and sentencing where a large number of judicial decisions are being processed automatically based on historical data.  However, decades of court decisions are often embedded with gender stereotypes, where women are characterised as “emotional” and “vindictive” whilst men are “provocative”.  It is hard for algorithm discrimination to reflect variables in gender and related socioeconomic factors.  Some courts have tried to tackle this algorithmic myth by introducing certain conditions whereby human consideration is brought back in judicial decision-making, including cases of certain nature or that exceed certain monetary thresholds.  It is hard to believe, at least in the current state of AI technology, that equal justice could be achieved by relying on algorithms to seek unbiased and equal justice for women and girls.

Nadia Lewis: In the era of social media, fake news, deep fake film and photos and AI the biases and discrimination against individuals can be harder to detect, and even harder to overcome.  We can lose control over our truth and even our identity through anonymous and often incorrect information. This is changing the way we behave, the opinions and beliefs people hold. AI can sway opinion, change reality and make the struggle for equality even harder to achieve.  We have come a long way but in the digital era we not only have to deal with human opinion and facts which can result in discrimination, we now also have to find ways to deal with the influence of AI and digital discrimination.

LOOKING AHEAD, WHERE DO YOU BELIEVE THE LEGAL PROFESSION CAN HAVE THE GREATEST IMPACT IN ADVANCING OPPORTUNITIES AND PROTECTIONS FOR ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS?

Olwyn Barry: I think it is vital to consider how the continued efforts are framed and perceived to avoid the perception of reverse discrimination against men becoming entrenched.  The ultimate objective is not advantage; it’s parity and harmony. The legal profession is uniquely placed to influence and advocate to incite change from many angles; from cultural adjustments within our workplaces including hiring and employment policies to the steps taken by the legislature and the judiciary.

Fiona Chan: I have always believed in educating and promoting gender equity within the legal profession and in the wider community.  Despite the continuous growth in female participation in the legal industry, there remain significant challenges that hinder career progression and discriminate against women in law.  Employers can assist with addressing microaggressions such as eliminating gender pay gap, implementing flexible working arrangements, etc.  Females in leadership roles can have a powerful impact too.  Apart from being role models themselves, many of them are keen to help younger women and girls advance in the industry.  With the large number of female focus groups and initiatives in the legal profession, women have plenty of opportunities to share and access information and experience of successful women.  One important aspect is learning to deal with gender-related microaggressions in the workplace, which may well be unintentional yet detrimental to females in the profession.  To many people’s surprise, microaggressions do not concern the offenders only – bystanders should speak up so that a positive and inclusion environment can be created, thereby improving safety and protection for females.  Educating women and men on addressing gender microaggressions should form part of the continuous professional development programme of legal practitioners.

Nadia Lewis: The legal profession has a key role to play in helping to shape laws, defend rights and remove the barriers to entry into the profession globally so that all voices are heard and advancement is achieved through a multifaceted lens not one focused on a single narrow focused view.