Celebrating International Women's Day, 2024 - Spotlight on Caroline Copeland

Today, we look to Caroline Copeland, a partner in our Corporate and Commercial team who is steeped in the world of advertising and marketing law.

Caroline did not have any family connection to law and it was only in her second year at university, studying History, that she began thinking about career options. “I thought I might be well suited to law and it appealed to me because it offered a career rather than just a job” Caroline says, “something with a defined pathway for progression, that I could be in long-term and that would enable me to move relatively quickly onto the ladder of independent, London living. And the fact that I’m still here all these years later, hopefully shows that my youthful self wasn’t wrong!”

Despite the advancements in gender equality, women in law, like many other sectors, continue to face challenges when it comes to balancing a career and childcare. “Statistically, it remains the case that, on average, women spend more time providing childcare than men. The key challenge is to ensure that women feel supported through having children, taking maternity leave and managing childcare and home life responsibilities whilst working a job that is often intense and can require lots of long and unpredictable hours”. Caroline believes that an important part of this is ensuring that women have support in flexible working patterns and representation in leadership positions. “The availability of role models for aspiring female lawyers is crucial.”

International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900's - a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialised world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. Many strides have been made for women’s rights in the last 100 years, but Caroline maintains that we need to continue to mark the occasion. “It serves both to celebrate the progress made, but also as a reminder that, in many parts of the world, women are deprived of freedom, opportunity and basic human rights, and much more needs to be done. It’s important to continue to put the spotlight on the issues and behaviours that perpetuate gender inequality and remind ourselves of what we can do to make a difference.”

It is also important for Caroline that we inspire the next generation of women to forge successful careers and take up jobs at the highest level. “Gender should never determine your boundaries; I’d say the same thing to any aspiring lawyer – just go for it.”

One of Caroline’s great role models was her great grandmother, Ida Copeland. She had an extraordinary life – from her father's death in a shooting accident, to moving from Italy to Britain at the end of the 19th century, nursing with the British Red Cross Society in World War I, and becoming one of the first female members of Parliament, sitting as an MP for Stoke in the 1930’s. “I don’t think she let much, if anything, hold her back!”, says Caroline.

Caroline has clearly inherited some of Ida’s strength of character. That attitude has no doubt helped her succeed in law, but it also makes her an inspiration to the next generation of women. With that, we join her in marking and celebrating this International Women's Day 2024.