By Chinua Asuzu
“If you appear before a female judge who doesn’t like being called lady, then address her in the third nonperson, as this Honorable Court. Never address a female judge as my lord or your lordship. You don’t have to partake of her ladyship’s unrepentant illiteracy. Nor must you join the cult of linguistic gender-benders.” – Chinua Asuzu
Nigerian bench and bar speak quirky legal language. They address female lawyers as gentlemen on the long-dead fiction that “there is no lady at the bar.”
Of course, there are ladies at the bar, and they deserve to be addressed as ladies.
Some members of the Nigerian legal community also refer to female judges as he, his lordship, lords, their lordships. They also say sir to female judges.
They use these sexist forms of address with the acquiescence and even eager support of allegedly educated and supposedly enlightened Nigerian women.
Some female judges even demand or expect to be addressed as men. Apparently, they don’t like being women; so they opt for a linguistic sex-change operation. One would expect women to be proud of their sex and gender and be keen to be recognized for whom and what God has, in his infinite wisdom, made them.
The sexist language originated in ancient England when, indeed, there were no females at the bar, let alone the bench. Well, we live in a different era now—one of open, clear, comprehensible, and user-friendly communication, with millions of ladies in the profession.
Address a female judge as my lady or your ladyship. Speak of her as her ladyship. If you are a judge yourself, of either sex, address your female colleagues on the bench as my learned sisters. Drop the linguistic gender bender. Judges of both sexes are learned brothers and sisters, not learned brethren or learned brothers.
The UK Supreme Court today comprises 11 male members and 1 female member. The male members have the title of Lord; the sole female that of Lady. As I write this in October 2022, the female member is Lady Rose.
And do you remember the Oscar Pistorius trial in South Africa? The female judge was addressed as my Lady.
Male judges can always be addressed as sir. Female judges should welcome ma’am.
Senior Advocates of Nigeria should refer to a male colleague of the inner bar as a brother silk, a female as a sister silk, and a mixed group as fellow silks.
Thanks for joining the war against linguistic sexism. And while you’re at it, fight other discriminatory isms, whether based on age, caste, class, cultural background, disability, economic status, ethnicity, gender, marital status, race, religion, sex, sexuality, or social standing or status.
