Christabel Pankhurst Lecture

PUSHing for Justice: Women, Power and the Unfinished Fight for Equality is the Annual Christabel Pankhurst Lecture, featuring trailblazing legal leader and equality advocate Dr I. Stephanie Boyce.

In this powerful address, Boyce reflects on what it truly means to lead as a woman within systems that often reward conformity and resist change. Drawing on her lived experience — from growing up in a low-income, first-generation British household on a council estate to reaching national leadership — she examines how power operates within the legal profession and why progress for women remains uneven.

Using P.U.S.H. (Persevere Until Something Happens) as both a personal philosophy and a collective call to action, the lecture explores the persistent barriers women face in progression, pay, credibility, safety and influence. It also highlights the compounded impact of race, class, disability and caring responsibilities, arguing that equality cannot be measured simply by entry into the profession, but by women’s ability to shape decisions, culture and opportunity within it.

The lecture challenges legal leaders, institutions and allies to move beyond symbolic gestures towards sustained structural reform — strengthening accountability, widening access to justice and defending the rule of law. The session concludes with an audience Q&A, inviting reflection on how the next generation of women in law can inherit not just open doors, but a profession redesigned for fairness, dignity and lasting equality.

About the speaker

Dr I. Stephanie Boyce CBE FKC made history as the first person of colour and first Black President of the Law Society of England and Wales, leading the organisation through a period of significant change.

A respected solicitor, governance expert and advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion, she has dedicated her career to advancing access to justice and promoting ethical leadership. Widely recognised for her strategic insight and unwavering commitment to a more representative legal profession, Boyce continues to be an influential national and international voice on law, governance, ethical leadership, AI and legacy.

Her leadership philosophy is captured in her mantra “PUSH: Persevere Until Something Happens,” reflecting her belief in resilience, representation and purposeful leadership.