The Chairman of the Arbitration Commission of the International Law Association (ILA), Tolu Aderemi, has called on the legal profession to promote gender diversity in every facet of legal practice, advocating for the dissolution of the NBA Women’s Forum since there is no NBA Men’s Forum.
He made this statement at the Nigerian Bar Association Women Forum (NBAWF) Lagos State Chapter webinar titled ‘Work-Life balance and the legal profession: A social responsibility or a competitive advantage,’ held on Tuesday.
Speaking as a keynote speaker at the forum, Aderemi, who is also a partner at the leading law firm of Perchstone & Graeys LP, said, “It is disconcerting that out of the 732 Senior Advocates of Nigeria, only a 4% fraction are ladies. Out of the 37 Attorneys General in Nigeria, only four are female. There has been only one female Chief Justice of Nigeria, and only six Justices of the Supreme Court so far.”
Aderemi also noted that since 1960, there has been only one female president of the Nigerian Bar Association, while the Court of Appeal can only boast of two female presidents.
In his analysis, he mentioned, “It will appear to me (and from statistics) that only 40 per cent of Nigerian lawyers are females. However, we are seeing increasing 61 per cent in public sector roles, 55 per cent in the corporate sector, 33 per cent on the bench, 31 per cent as partners in sized law firms, and only about 15 per cent are founders of their own law firms.”
Aderemi advocated that to demonstrate that female lawyers are prepared for gender equality, they should promote the dissolution of the NBA Women’s Forum since there is no NBA Men’s Forum.
This, in his view, should also extend to the dissolution of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Nigeria For Women Project, and other Associations established solely for women ostensibly to advocate for women’s empowerment.
He concluded by saying that unless this is done, their male counterparts will continue to believe that the legal profession is exclusively for men and that special provision has been made for women. Instead, Aderemi charged the women participants to jointly move to re-submit the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill, which was sadly rejected by the 9th Assembly.
Another keynote speaker, Mrs Abimbola Akeredolu, SAN, a former Attorney General of Ogun State, a partner at the firm of Banwo & Ighodalo, and the chairperson of LASIAC, similarly advocated for the dissolution of women-focused empowerment Associations. However, she slightly disagreed with Mr Aderemi by suggesting that the government’s 35% affirmative action be sustained as this goes a long way to support women’s growth.
The third keynote speaker, Dr Amina Ahmed, a Consultant Gynecologist at the Federal Medical Center, Abeokuta, Ogun State, charged female lawyers to always conduct health checks periodically to live a cancer-free life. According to Dr Ahmed, early detection of any cancerous cells in the cervical goes a long way in determining the success of cervical cancer treatment.
Dr Ahmed, therefore, charged the women lawyers of the Nigerian Bar Association to take the lead in advocating for early detection.
Other prominent participants included Mrs Funke Adekoya, SAN, Dr Dorcas Abah (who served as the Moderator), and a host of other distinguished female lawyers.
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