She said she was worried about the controversy damaging her career, calling the backlash she had experienced a “silencing mechanism”.
“It prevents people coming forward and reporting sexism and even sexual harassment,” she said.
Proudman was praised by Polly Sprenger, a barrister specialising in corporate and economic crime, who said: “It’s a brave and principled barrister who is prepared to put her personal position on the line to defend her opinion. It is not easy at the bar to take on a senior partner at a law firm who might have instructed you.
“The bar is a slow-moving aircraft carrier of a profession, and it is difficult to turn it around. She does everyone a favour by standing up to the kind of people who think that behaviour is acceptable.”
The barrister at the centre of a sexism storm after she objected to a solicitor’s “unacceptable and misogynist” comments on her LinkedIn profile says she has been overwhelmed by emails and tweets from other women reporting similar offensive behaviour in the workplace.
A report published by the bar council in July, examining the experience of self-employed female barristers, found that “experiences of inappropriate behaviour within the profession continue to exist”
“I think that too many men at the bar feel they are existing in a children’s playground,” one woman told the researchers. “They think they can say grossly disrespectful things because nobody is going to stop them and nothing is going to be said about it.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...med-by-support