The Institute for African Women in Law (IAWL), in partnership with Equality Now and the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU), collaborated on two events on Friday, 18th October 2024 as part of PALU’s Annual Conference 2024. The conference, held at the Skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, attracted legal professionals from across the continent under the theme ‘Africa as a Global Powerhouse: Empowering Minds, Enlightening Paths’.
The first event was a mentorship session between IAWL, PALU and the Young Women for Awareness, Agency, Advocacy and Accountability (YW4A) Programme, where selected senior legal professionals shared their experiential insights with early career professionals about the critical steps to developing a successful career trajectory. The event was moderated by Equality Now’s Regional Coordinator, Africa, Ms. Judy Gitau, and the panel consisted of Prof. J. Jarpa Dawuni, Ph.D. (Founder and Executive Director, IAWL), Ms. Joyce Oduah (Principal Counsel, Vice President for West Africa at PALU), and Mr. Andrew Karamagi (Lawyer, Scholar and Development Practitioner). Integrity, excellence, hard work, and building professional networks were among the key takeaways for the mentees who attended.
While addressing the early career professionals, Prof. Dawuni stressed,
“Do the hard work, even when no one is looking. Be genuine. Be genuine in everything you do.”
Ms. Oduah emphasized integrity:
“Integrity can put more than food on the table for you. Once your brand is integrity, people will know you, and they will come for you. Integrity is key in whatever you do”.
Mr. Karamagi challenged the mentees to aim higher than the 1234 rule. He explained:
“A lot of people believe once you achieve the 1234 rule, you are set for life: 1 spouse, 2 children, a 3 bedroom house, and a 4-wheel drive. You have to want more than that.”
The second event was a roundtable discussion on promoting gender equality in the legal profession, aligned with the launch of IAWL’s Gender Equality in Law Campaign (GELC) on July 5th, 2024, at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra, Ghana. This session raised awareness about the challenges women face in the legal profession– sexual harassment, unequal pay, inequitable hiring and promotion, and gender bias and stereotypes– and discussed how to create a more gender-equitable profession.
Moderated by Dr. Maame Efua Addadzi-Koom, Director of Training at IAWL, event panelists included Ms. Judy Gitau of Equality Now, Ms. Lensa Biyena Geleta (Executive Director of the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association), and Mr. Donald Deya (Chief Executive Officer of PALU).
Dr. Addadzi-Koom commenced the session by introducing Prof. Dawuni, who spoke about the mission behind GELC. Data drawn from IAWL’s research report Gender Equality in Law Across Africa: Is the Glass Half Full? shows that women in the legal profession are not immune from the aforementioned types of gender-based mistreatment in the workplace. This data backs the work that IAWL does through GELC by raising awareness of why gender equality advocacy is needed. Prof. Dawuni also stressed the importance of being solution-oriented. She stated that African women are powerful and have always been able to bring about change, emphasizing that campaigns like GELC are not about playing the victim but rather saying,
“These are the problems, this is what the data shows, but this is what we can do.”
Ms. Gitau then highlighted what a gender-equitable law firm or legal work environment should look like, stating that a gender-equitable space has policies that encourage “equal opportunity for advancement,” push for mentorship and guidance for all, look out for implicit and explicit biases in the workplace and address them, and that do not penalize women when they perform motherly duties that take them away from the office.
Ms. Geleta spoke on the role of lawyers, law firms and bar associations in ensuring a gender-sensitive legal work environment, highlighting how gender equality often “looks like it’s the issue of those groups that are specifically focusing on gender issues only.” However, Ms. Geleta emphasized:
"I don't think as a professional, as a professional lawyer, specifically, I don't think this issue is something we should be left out of. It's something that we ought to do together.”
Finally, Mr. Deya reflected on how a male ally can support gender equality in the legal profession by emphasizing that a male ally has to be willing to learn. Male allies must ask themselves how they can be enablers and supporters for their women colleagues without detracting attention from them and taking away their agency. Mr. Deya also commended IAWL for conducting its GELC research because policymakers rely on the data to make decisions, but this data is often lacking in the African legal profession.
The discussion concluded with a symbolic signing of the GELC Model Policy Adoption Form by Mr. Deya, Ms. Joyce Oduah and Mr. Sylvain Koffi Attoh-Mensah, the Treasurer at PALU. The signing of this form marks their commitment to wholly or partially adopt the model policy within one year or a reasonable time, whichever comes first. Mr. Deya, Ms. Oduah and Mr. Attoh-Mensah’s signing of the form showed true commitment to and activation of the Campaign, and IAWL expresses its deepest gratitude.
Overall, both events were a huge success, exceeding expectations in raising awareness around the importance of gender equality in the legal profession, driving interest to support GELC, and encouraging the next generation of women leaders.
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