The report focuses on gender disparity in the legal profession in Nigeria.
A new report by the International Bar Association (IBA), a global forum of lawyers, has revealed “a dearth of women” in top positions in the legal profession in Nigeria.
According to the report by the Legal Policy & Research Unit of the IBA, which focuses on gender disparity in the Nigerian legal profession, only 33 per cent of senior judges in Nigeria’s judiciary are women occupy.
The new report shared with PREMIUM TIMES in a press release on Wednesday added that only three out of the 36 Attorneys-General of the various states are women. Besides, the incumbent Attorney-General of the Federation is male, and no female has ever occupied the position.
The report, according to Romana St. Matthew-Daniel of IBA’s press office, is based on data accumulated for the 50:50 by 2030: A longitudinal study into gender disparity in law – NIGERIA RESULTS REPORT,
It found that women make up approximately 40 per cent of all lawyers in Nigeria.
Giving a breakdown of the composition of female lawyers in the various sectors of the legal profession, it said: “The country’s public sector has the highest representation of women in senior positions, with 61 per cent of practitioners being female, followed by the corporate sector, with 55 per cent. Law firms have the second lowest number of women in senior roles (43 per cent), behind the judiciary (33 per cent).”
‘Need for transformation and change’
The president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Maikyau, quoted in the IBA’s statement, lauded the project which birthed the report as “an innovative and unprecedented project through which the legal profession looks inwards”.
For the legal profession to achieve transformative change in the world, Mr Maikyau, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said “issues relating to gender equality and empowerment must be prioritised and addressed head-on”.
He urged all NBA members to study the report, learn from the data contained in it, “and become champions of the change we want to see in our nation.”
He also called on bar associations and law societies to fully support the project “when the spotlight is turned towards their jurisdictions.”
Similarly, Titilola Akinlawon, also a senior advocate and Founding Partner at Akinlawon & Ajomo, noted with displeasure the finding of “The 50:50 by 2030 project report that only 33 per cent of senior judges are female. She also expressed worry that “in both the judiciary and the public sector there are no initiatives in place to help women reach the top in their careers.”
Mrs Akinlawon said the project would gather data from across all sectors of the legal profession, and 16 jurisdictions, “with the aim of identifying the root causes of gender inequality, tracking progress over time, and providing practical conclusions and guidance.
Also echoing the call for change, she said, “The profession needs a balanced voice – it’s time for change.”
Other key findings
Among its other findings, the report said, “three most popular gender equality initiatives are coaching and mentoring programmes, flexible working arrangements and leadership training for women”.
It added that the public sector and the judiciary did not have any specific policies or initiatives in place to push women to the top of their organisations;
It also said the least popular initiative was quota setting, and leadership training was considered by respondents to be the least effective.
Only 68 per cent of respondents, according to the report, “said that they monitor gender representation overall and at a senior level.”
It said only 40 per cent of corporate sector respondents monitor gender balance within senior roles.
Key trends
The Nigeria report marks the fourth set of findings from the IBA’s 50:50 by 2030 – A Longitudinal Study into Gender Disparity in Law project, released in collaboration with the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation (LNROLF) on International Women’s Day 2021.
The first report, considering the legal profession in England and Wales, was released in March 2022 with further reports on Uganda and Spain published in August and December 2022, respectively.
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According to the organisers, one notable trend across England and Wales, Nigeria, Spain and Uganda is the high representation of female lawyers in the public sector.
In England and Wales, 64 per cent of lawyers in the public sector are women, of which 57 per cent hold the most senior positions.
Similarly, in Uganda, 57 per cent of lawyers in the public sector are female, with 62 per cent represented at a senior level. In the Spanish legal profession, 62 per cent of lawyers across the public sector are female, although, in this jurisdiction, only 38 per cent are in the most senior positions.
A similar trend is also observed in the Nigerian legal profession, with 68 per cent of female lawyers represented in the public sector and 61 per cent working in senior roles. In terms of initiatives, flexible working arrangements, and coaching and mentoring programmes for women are the most popular across all four jurisdictions.
Download IBA’s full report here