****Our guest blogger Ms.Osai Ojigho reflects on one of the pillars of the GELC-- promotion.
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Promotion is a mark of progress as well as success in any workplace. For the legal profession, promotion can mean making Partner, ascent to the bench and up to the highest court in the country or being conferred with the rank of ‘Silk’ – Senior Advocate of Nigeria (Nigeria), Senior Counsel (Kenya), King’s Counsel (UK), etc, with accompanying privileges that acknowledge experience, expertise and exemplary service. For many in law firms, becoming a partner is a respectable aspiration that offers increased visibility and is a marked sign of one’s leadership in the law.
It is, therefore, a valid and legitimate aspiration to pursue your highest potential and that the different pathways to leadership are accessible to all, regardless of gender or status. The legal profession is becoming more gender diverse in many African countries, and many more young women are graduating from law school. However, the increase in the number of women in the profession does not necessarily translate to more women in leadership positions. This trend, as Jarpa Dawuni, PhD, argues, is sadly linked to a male-dominated view of the legal profession and the structures that maintain it.
Whether workplace promotion patterns play a role in men’s aspirations compared to women’s is relative. The Institute for African Women in Law (IAWL) carried out a Gender Equality in Law Campaign Survey in 2023 to evaluate the profession's status in relation to gender bias, sexual harassment, equal pay, hiring and promotion. When posed with the question, are men promoted more than women in your workplace? An almost equal number of respondents strongly agreed (10.7%) or strongly disagreed (12.1%), while about 33% remained neutral.
What it takes for women to be promoted
I know several women lawyers who are partners in law firms and, speaking with a few of them on their careers, it is interesting to see that although they have unique journeys, they shared many similarities. For the women who have achieved partner status, there were several things that worked well for them including:
Excellence and thoroughness in their work;
Childcare support at home or provided by their employer;
Mentor in the same law firm that encouraged them and was a sounding board;
Confidence and courage; and
Networking and relationship management.
I have heard repeatedly from colleagues in active legal practice that some women leave the profession when they get married and have children. Many pointed out that the high demands on your time at work and additional pressures at home can be a deal breaker for many women.
It became apparent that women taking a career break to have children found it even more challenging to return to work if the only explanation they had for gaps in their CV was to start a family. However, employers were more willing to offer flexible working arrangements to a valued member of staff based on previous accomplishments. Men, more often than not, do not have such considerations and are less likely to leave a profession they love due to domestic responsibilities. However, there is anecdotal evidence that some employers were more willing to offer flexible working arrangements to a valued female staff on account of previous accomplishments.
The challenges faced with balancing the pressures of work and practice have led more women into in-house legal roles as legal officers, company secretaries, and legal advisers. This does not mean that these roles are less demanding. However, the companies/organizations appear to have more developed policies and provisions in place which enable females to flourish better as members of the workforce.
Advancing women’s promotion: Institutional and personal measures
There are measures that law firms and other employers can take to level the playing field and remain profitable as a business. Some medium-sized or big law firms invest in supporting their women lawyers to thrive and grow and are keen to retain them, which is a key factor in gaining the experience on the job needed for promotion to more senior roles. They spend more resources in providing facilities to enhance the work environment, such as extended maternity leave and a phased-out approach to returning to work e.g. by working fewer hours for a month or so after maternity leave to wean a baby; dedicated creche; breastfeeding rooms and refrigerators where expressed milk are stored; flexible working for an agreed period; coaching or mentoring programs; and training and professional exchanges. The return on investment is a dedicated and capable workforce focused on winning more business for the organization. An enabling environment has a significant impact on staff health, well-being, and motivation.
There are also the personal efforts women lawyers require to excel in such competitive spaces. Some of it is unlearning certain behaviors conditioned by cultural norms, which can impair women negotiating more aggressively for what they want as that may be considered unladylike.
While it is promising to see women become partners and leaders and celebrate this, small firms or sole practitioner firms are less likely to have an active policy aimed at addressing the representation of women in leadership. Also, corporate, commercial and specialist firms are more likely to have more resources than purely litigation practices to make their offices more gender-responsive. As more women become partners and lead projects, younger lawyers know that it is attainable and it is normalized.
Conclusion
Times have changed and there are more forums where we can have open conversations about what is required or needed to be done to be a partner or advance in a legal career or stay in practice. The institutions of legal scholarship and practice must recognize that making the work environment more inclusive is the best practice. Educating leaders about the challenges that women face and equipping them with the tools to mitigate this is key. One way is to adopt a fair and equitable hiring and promotion policy. The IAWL has a sample Gender Equality in Law: A Model Policy that law firms and other institutions can adopt. In addition, showcasing the benefits of encouraging a transparent process for promoting staff and encouraging them to take up leadership is an investment that pays repeatedly.