In December 2024, the International Bar Association (IBA) launched its 50:50 by 2030: A longitudinal study into gender disparity in the law project progress report (50:50 by 2030 Progress Report).
Findings of the 50:50 by 2030 Progress Report
The comparative research – conducted by the IBA in 11 countries on five continents examining gender disparity in senior positions across the legal profession – has found:
- Overall women make up 47 % of lawyers and 38 % of senior lawyers
- Women comprise an important percentage of the legal profession
- However, figures are significantly lower at senior levels across most sectors – private practice, in-house legal teams, public sector institutions and the judiciary
- The public sector is closest to achieving gender parity overall (49 %), with 41 % of all lawyers in positions of responsibility being female
- The judiciary is close behind the public sector, with 43 % of all judges being female and 38 % holding senior positions
- The corporate sector is making positive strides towards gender parity, with 57 % of all lawyers being female, as well as 46 % of lawyers in senior positions
- The jurisdictions with the highest percentage of women lawyers overall are Chile, the Netherlands, and Ukraine
- The jurisdictions with the highest percentage of women lawyers in senior positions are Ukraine, Türkiye, Nigeria and the Netherlands
- The Republic of Korea, Mexico and Nigeria have the lowest number of female lawyers overall
- The Republic of Korea, Mexico and Spain have the lowest number of female lawyers in senior leadership positions
- The most popular initiative across most jurisdictions is flexible working arrangements, with quota setting the least popular.
Key Takeaways of the 50:50 by 2030 Progress Report
The report provides the following takeaways:
- Continue to implement and encourage flexible work practices for all
- Develop and provide access to leadership training for women
- Develop and provide access to mentoring and coaching
- Initiatives need to be appropriately targeted
- Quotas should not be disregarded
What implications for gender disparity in international arbitration?
In her Forward to the IBA 50:50 by 2030 Progress Report, the IBA President, Almudena Arpón de Mendívil, states:
The use of temporary and well-structured quotas when candidates meet merit-based qualifications, unpopular as they may be, cannot be dismissed as necessary to accelerate progress.
And in its Report Of The Cross-Institutional Task Force On Gender Diversity In Arbitral Appointments And Proceedings, ICCA notes at page 129:
Incorporating into arbitration rules aspirational or mandatory requirements on parties and institutions to ensure equal opportunities for women in the arbitrator appointment process may have a positive effect on the number of women appointed as arbitrators. There are examples of similar requirements pertaining to the appointment of judges to other international courts and tribunals.
However, it is not clear to what extent quotas (or other mandatory requirements) have been used across the world to accelerate progress towards achieving sex-representative arbitral tribunals. For example, the German Arbitration Institute (DIS) does not have fixed quotas; rather it has focused on its Gender Champion Initiative. And quotas or mandatory requirements do not feature in the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Guidelines for International Arbitration launched by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) in 2024.
Conclusion
Thus, it appears that quotas and mandatory requirements will remain an option of the last resort for international arbitral institutions, with other approaches such as unconscious bias training being favoured.
The 50:50 by 2023 Progress Report can be accessed at: 50:50 by 2030: A longitudinal study into gender disparity in the law project progress report (50:50 by 2030 Progress Report).
Submitted by Beauchamps LLP Partner, John Gaffney.