Only five of the 34 judges who sit in Scotland's High Court and Court of Session are women.

It would appear that, 37 years after the Sex Discrimination Act, the top echelons of the legal profession in Scotland continue to discriminate against women.

After centuries in which judges and sheriffs were appointed by the Lord Advocate, a system that was inevitably influenced by the old boys' network, the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland was established in 2002 to make the selection system more open, fair and transparent. One of its strategic objectives is to encourage appropriate diversity in the range of individuals available for selection.

That it has so conspicuously failed to do so must be a source of deep disappointment and frustration to the large number of able women practising law at various levels in Scotland. When Lady Cosgrove was appointed Scotland's first female judge 16 years ago, she naturally expected others to follow her on to the bench in a trickle-up effect. With 80% of newly qualified lawyers now women, the pace of change must be accelerated and not only for the sake of equality in the legal profession.

As Lady Cosgrove stated in her address to the Scottish Young Lawyers Association yesterday, the public cannot have confidence in a judicial system in which half the population is under-represented. The importance of this is recognised at the highest levels: part of the initial remit of the appointments board was to consider ways of recruiting a judiciary representative of the communities served.

Perhaps with the high-profile appointment of Elish Angiolini as Lord Advocate, Scotland's most senior law officer, six years ago, there was an assumption that the glass ceiling had been breached. If so, complacency has done a disservice to women with the ability to become sheriffs or judges. However, gender imbalance is the result of practical difficulties as well as what Lady Hale, the only female judge in the UK Supreme Court, described as "an unspoken officer- class mentality in the selection of judges".

Lady Cosgrove's call for a less rigid qualification process, more flexible hours and part-time working may be regarded askance in Parliament House but it is the failure to recognise the reality of women's lives that is unacceptable.

A similar cause for disappointment is the proportion of women in the Scottish Parliament. In 2003, 40% of MSPs were women, giving hope that the combination of a parliament nearer home, family-friendly hours and the additional member system could lead to a legislature with a gender balance close to 50/50. However, in 2007 women gained only 33% of the seats and the proportion is now 35%. In local government only 21% of councillors are women.

As with the judiciary, it is vital that the Parliament and councils reflect the communities served.

The time is long overdue for political parties and all Scottish institutions to recognise that a gender balance is not only fair but also beneficial. There can be no place for antediluvian sexism.