This Saturday, March 8, marks International Women’s Day. It is a day of unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy, and action and is celebrated in many countries worldwide. The Government of Canada’s theme for IWD 2025 is “Strength in every story”.
In Alberta and most of the country, women are well-represented in the legal profession.
For example:
Legal Aid Alberta staff lawyers Nicole Sissons and Sheila Raffray appear on Global Morning News to speak about the challenges and rewards women in the legal profession experience.
Daintre Christensen: This coming Saturday is International Women’s Day, a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Here today to talk about the challenges and rewards women in the legal profession experience, we have Legal Aid Alberta staff lawyers Nicole Sissons and Sheila Raffray. Welcome to both of you.
Nicole and Sheila: Thank you.
Daintre Christensen: Happy to have you here. So Nicole, let’s start off with you. What brought you into the legal profession?
Nicole Sissons: Well, I saw some injustices when I was young and I felt powerless to help the people that were experiencing them or to help myself. And so when I got older, I thought, how can I address that imbalance or those injustices? And I thought, well, geez, I should become a lawyer. I didn’t want to feel that powerless again. And I wanted to be able to help. And so that’s why I became a lawyer.
Daintre Christensen: And Sheila, what about you?
Sheila Raffray: Well, so actually, I feel like I was destined to be a lawyer. This is something that I created when I was in grade 4 that I keep beside my desk at work and it says when Sheila grows up she would like to be a lawyer because Mrs. Abbott said that she was good at defending people. So I think that that’s a teacher’s generous way of saying she was a bit of a busybody and inserts herself into other people’s disputes. But I think it just really speaks to a strong sense of social justice that I’ve had since I was a child.
Daintre Christensen: And with that, what have you loved about being in the profession?
Sheila Raffray: Oh my gosh, so much. I think that it is rewarding to support people when they are struggling and in a very confusing system and not knowing how to…like what to do next? And so being able to help people navigate that. And for myself, I had two clients who had their children returned to them yesterday. And so that’s an amazing day like that. It doesn’t get better than that.
Daintre Christensen: And Nicole, are there any moments in particular that really make you reinforce that decision that you made to be in the legal profession?
Nicole Sissons: There are, I mean, you get to right some wrongs. I’ve spent my life as a defence lawyer. So I’ve certainly had some experiences where I had clients who were wrongly accused. And were acquitted and yes, that’s their life on the line and you feel like you’ve really really helped somebody. That’s their liberty.
Daintre Christensen: Giving them the vindication that they needed.
Nicole Sissons: Giving them their life back.
Daintre Christensen: Certainly so. And how has the role of women in the legal profession, how has that been supported do you find?
Sheila Raffray: So for myself, the mentorship has been incredible. I was very fortunate at the beginning of my career to article with Justice Julie Lloyd and with Laura Briar Casey, a well-respected family lawyer within the city and seeing these two women who are at the top of their profession, and balancing professional and personal and providing me with that mentorship has been invaluable. A big part of the reason why I came to Legal Aid was because I knew that Jessica Chapman, who’s been a guest on the show numerous times, was a lawyer within the family law team and that she was also a mentor. So mentorship has been significant for me.
Daintre Christensen: And do you find much the same for you, Nicole?
Nicole Sissons: I am a little bit of a senior lawyer to my colleague here. So when I started in the early 2000s, there was no mentorship that I was aware of, no program like that. There were women at the defence bar, but not as many but I can say there have been changes and that’s good, but there’s still work to do. Some of the issues that we still have are that… You know, pay inequities between 12 to 21% depending on demographics for women, men make more. Upper echelons of legal practice often are more male than female and if there are females they don’t get paid the same as the men and that’s usually as a result of women who feel they have to make life choices. You know they missed promotions they want to have a family or they want to have a profession. They don’t have stay-at-home spouses to help carry the burden of those domestic responsibilities when you have kids in the family. And so there is work to do there,
Daintre Christensen: Still room to grow. Well, thank you both for coming in. I certainly appreciated and definitely giving us a better perspective of what it is like for women in the legal profession and the changes that continue to be made.
Nicole and Sheila: Thank you for having us.
Daintre Christensen: Legal Aid Alberta lawyers specialize in family law, child welfare, domestic violence, immigration, and youth and adult criminal defence. If you have any questions you can send them to [email protected].
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