In commemoration of International Women’s Day, the NBA Women Forum (NBAWF) is set to host a power-packed virtual conference starting on Wednesday, 24th March 2021, themed, “Pathways to Diversity: Challenging Blindspots and Powering Up for Inclusion”.
The conference aims to spotlight the achievements of women at the bar while charting solutions to address areas of necessary improvement such as diversity in the profession, stereotypes, representation in governance, and growth acceleration for young female lawyers.
Speaking about the conference, the head of Media and Publicity for the Forum, Theodora Kio-Lawson, said that in line with the global theme for the 2021 IWD, the women of the bar are choosing to challenge blind spots and stereotypes within the legal profession.
She said, “By actively choosing to challenge these stereotypes, we are saying no to bias, no employment inequity, no to wage gap/unequal pay, no to sexual harassment and all the other issues that keep us down and continues to widen the gender inequality gap.
“We hope that as a direct fallout of this conference, more women would learn to constructively interrogate issues of inequality and broaden their perceptions to embrace this cultural transformation and drive the agenda forward, particularly as it relates to the legal profession,” Kio-Lawson added.
The Conference which will be declared open by Her Excellency Anna Ishaku, first lady of Taraba State, will also feature a keynote address by Oby Ezekwesili, Public Analyst and Former Vice President, World Bank’s Africa Region; Terry Mazur, Chair of the Women in Law Section of the New York State Bar Association; Olumide Akpata, President of the Nigeria Bar Association; Hon. Justice Roli Harriman and Chief Folake Solanke, SAN, first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
Others are, Bidemi Ademola, General Counsel, West Africa Unilever, Seye Kosoko, Company Secretary, FBN Holdings and Ayotola Jagun, Chief Compliance Officer/Company Secretary, Oando Plc, Joyce Oduah, General Secretary of the NBA, Prof. Oluyemisi Bamgbose, SAN, Chairperson, NBAWF, Chinyere Okorocha Vice Chair, NBAWF, Ummahani Amin, Convener, African Internal Conference on Islamic Finance (AICIF) among other distinguished speakers and discussants.
The sessions will cover a broad range of topics including, Leadership, Board Participation and Equal Representation in Governance: The Anomaly of Sexism; Gender Diversity and Unity in the Legal Profession: Working Together to Normalize Equality; The Future is Female: Actions for Accelerating the Growth of Female Lawyers In-House’ Gender Bias: Challenging Stereotypes and Reinforcing Diversity and Inclusion. And Leading the Charge for Gender Development: Role of the Nigerian Female Lawyer
Day two of the conference will feature a special training for young female lawyers, organized by the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Network Nigeria (UNGC) with the theme: #NBAWF #Choosetochallenge
