The journey of Generation X women in law: Breaking barriers and embracing change

Belinda Scriba

Generation X (Gen X) is often met with a degree of trepidation. This is not made any easier considering our country’s less-than-desirable and very inequitable past. There are a few lessons we can learn from those who lived through the teething times of our transition to democracy and helped shape an evolved (and evolving) legal fraternity. Nowhere is this more apparent than with women in law.

Born between the mid-1960s and early 1980s, Gen X currently represents a significant portion of leadership roles held across industries. Having grown up in a pre-digital boom world, at a time when women were still very much limited by lower corporate ceilings, Gen X women are often described as pragmatic, independent, and quietly tenacious. For women in law, these traits were so much more than personality quirks. They were battle-ready tools.

I started my career at the opening of the new millennium. It was a time in South Africa where there were very few women leading our profession, and change was slow. I have seen and experienced the gradual shift that brought more women, more voices, and more diverse ways of working to the fore. It wasn’t a glamorous journey, and it wasn’t certain, but it was mine. The doors that opened to career development were not well-oiled. But we persisted. We adapted. We endured.

My generation of women entered law during the early days of democracy, when change was in the air but far from embraced. Transformation targets were being discussed, but were far from welcome. Policies were drafted, but patriarchy persisted. Change, however, was inevitable.

That said, while women now make up over 40% of legal practitioners, still today we remain underrepresented at the partner and leadership levels. Gen X women have lived that disconnect. We were the first generation to properly benefit from post-apartheid reform, and the first to discover that policy without culture change can only take you so far.

We learned early that mentorship played a substantial role in career development. In an industry built on precedent and tradition, along with fighting hard for every inch forward they earned, successful women were also generally supported by a unique, forward-thinking support group. Support in the fight for change, support in picking you up from failures. Support that was so important in a game where the rules weren’t made for you.

My own journey was, largely, made possible due to these kinds of relationships. They helped me navigate corporate politics, deal with condescending and overbearing opponents, and return from maternity leave to a sector that wasn't yet ready to deal with working mothers.

Gen X women were guinea pigs for how the corporate world would have to adapt to allow both career development and motherhood. Initially, maternity leave meant loss of work, an obstacle to a promotion, and was sometimes viewed as the death of your career. Our generation was taught to be tough, where burnout, mental health, the real strain of "doing it all" was seen as affirmation that one just could not cut it in the corporate world, so it just did not "exist" – i.e. was not an option.

It is difficult to understand the degree of damage this attitude bestowed, but the silver lining is that Gen X are now much more aligned than the school of old with understanding the needs of working parents, the necessity for mentorship, and accommodating for mental health needs to avoid burnout.

Things have changed drastically, for the better, in the last 10 years, but the legal industry still stands at a much-needed inflexion point. We see younger lawyers pushing for faster, more meaningful change, and, because we have lived it, we understand the need for urgency and we are now fortunate enough to be in leadership positions that can make things happen.

As Generation Xers and as women who have a lived experience in the industry, what we offer is experience and perspective. We were, for a large part of our journey, underestimated, sidelined, and sometimes compelled to remain silent. But we have survived and, hopefully, made the legal expedition for the coming generations less brutal. Resilience and perseverance have created new ways of mentoring, new models of leadership, and, most importantly, new expectations.

A shout out to all Gen Xers, especially the women, who deserve recognition not only as people who made it through, but as a generation that embraced and encouraged change.

*Scriba is the Director of Dispute Resolution at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr

Weekend Argus