The Institute for African Women in Law (IAWL) has established a voice of advocacy against the challenges of women in law by the official launch of the ‘Gender Equality in Law Campaign’ (GELC).
The continent wide campaign is to raise awareness about the challenges women face in the legal fraternity, while promoting institutional and policy reforms to create a more inclusive work environment.
Established as a Pan-African initiative, the campaign uses evidence-based research from across countries within the African continent. The evidence-based research is coupled with stakeholder engagements and public advocacy to ignite changes which will facilitate women’s career development and leadership.
The campaign has been divided into four sub-campaigns each focusing on a specific challenge faced by women in the legal profession. The dominant challenges women face as legal practitioners are – Sexual Harassment, Equitable Hiring and Promotion, Equal Pay for Equal Work and Gender Bias and Stereotypes.
IAWL promotes the campaign by establishing a strong online presence through a webpage, daily interactions on all social media platforms and email marketing. IAWL uses social media as a tool for dissemination of all campaign updates, factsheets and infographics and most importantly engage the public.
A high-level convening proudly hosted by Ghana on Friday, July 5 2024 will gather legal professionals and other distinguished professionals across Africa and the diaspora to address gender gaps in the legal profession. Joining the list of activities for the GELC campaign is a chain of partnerships secured with various organizations who believe in gender equality in the legal fraternity.
The Institute for African Women in Law (IAWL) revealed that women face numerous challenges in the legal profession based on the results of a research conducted on women in law and leadership. GELC which was virtually launched on April 17, 2024 will strategically develop initiatives to fight against these challenges which include sexual harassment, equal pay for equal work, equitable hiring and promotion and gender stereotypes and biases.
