GENDER EQUALITY IN LAW MODEL POLICY: A TURNING POINT FOR WOMEN IN LAW
Written By: Pearl Abla Ahiataku
On March 3, 2025 the University Of Ghana School Of Law in collaboration with the Institute for African Women in Law (IAWL) hosted an event to publicly adopt the Gender Equality in Law Model Policy and present the African Women in Law Legacy Award to Professor Akua Kuenyehia, a retired Judge of the International Criminal Court, who has made significant contributions to international law mainly through gender equality and human rights. This served as a historic move towards the promotion of gender equality in Law. The event saw some of the finest minds contributing to the promotion of gender equality in Africa.
Background
The Gender Equality in Law Model Policy is a part of the IAWL’s Gender Equality in Law Campaign (GELC). The campaign was launched in July 2024 as a drive to raise awareness of the challenges women face in the legal profession. The campaign has three main goals;
- Awareness: to use evidence-based research to raise awareness about the institutional and structural challenges women in law face
- Advocacy: a continental advocacy effort for institutional policy and practice reforms to create women-inclusive legal professions where women thrive and lead
- Activation: adopt, promote and enforce policies, practices and institutional changes for equitable and women-inclusive work conditions.
Research conducted by IAWL on women in law and leadership found four main crucial issues of concern; sexual harassment, equal pay for equal work, equitable hiring and promotion and gender bias and stereotypes. These four issues are the focus of the campaign through which IAWL seeks to raise awareness, ignite gender consciousness and partner with organizations to achieve institutional changes. The research also serves as the basis for the development of the Model Policy. The Policy serves as a model document to guide firms, institutions and organizations within the legal profession to create comprehensive policy frameworks regarding the prevention and protection against sexual harassment, gender bias and stereotyping in the workplace and the promotion of equal pay for equal work, equitable hiring and promotion.
Event
The event was opened with a welcome address by the Dean of the University Of Ghana School Of Law (UGSoL), Professor Raymond Atuguba who stressed on the importance of human efforts in bringing about change. He noted the need for stakeholders to make a conscious and continuous effort to implement the policy daily. Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana commended the Dean for taking the step for UGSoL to publicly adopt the Policy thus making the University of Ghana a pioneer. She further explained the University’s existing policies that contribute to promoting an all-inclusive environment where gender equality thrives.
The Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, Her Ladyship Gertrude Sackey Torkonoo1 made mention of efforts being put in place for the Judicial Service of Ghana to adopt the policy and further congratulated Professor Akua Kuenyehia who played an instrumental role in guiding her while she was still a student at the university.
Other principal speakers including Mrs. Efua Ghartey, the first female President of the Ghana Bar Association shared some fond memories she had with Professor Kuenyehia and the source of inspiration she served while growing up. Mrs. Ghartey also noted that steps were being taken for the Ghana Bar to adopt the Policy. Honourable Diana Dapaah, former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice noted the importance of sending the fight for gender equality to the home, the first point of socialization of the individual.
The Gender Equality in Law Model Policy was eventually signed and adopted. Law firms such as B & P Associates, ENS Africa Ghana, AB & David, N. Dowouna and Sam Okudzeto & Associates also pledged to adopt the Policy.
Professor Akua Kuenyehia was then honoured by the Institute of African Women in Law. She was the first female law lecturer and female Dean of the then Faculty of Law now the University of Ghana School of Law (UGSoL). She spearheaded the construction of the infrastructure that currently houses the school of law. She moved on to the International Criminal Court where she became the first Vice President from 2003 to 2009. Her efforts towards gender equality have left a lasting legacy such as paving the way for more brilliant females to be admitted into the LLB program at the University. As at the 2019/2020 academic year, UGSoL was composed of 89% brilliant females and in effect contributing to the increasing number of women in law.
Overview of the Policy
The Gender Equality in Law Model Policy borders on the four main crucial issues:
Equitable hiring and promotion
This covers the need for organizations to create a fair and just process for hiring and promoting individuals. It provides a draft statement on equitable hiring and promotion and offers organizations and institutions the choice to have an equitable promotion criteria. It also covers the need for a detailed list of the promotion process that an organization would engage in and an avenue for reporting inequitable promotion that safeguards the confidentiality of the complainant.
Equal pay for equal work
This requires that all persons in the workplace regardless of their sex, gender, race, disability, age, marital status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, or other grounds, are paid equally for equal work. The Policy also dwells on work that is substantially similar based on the job description or content rather than the job title. To promote transparency, organizations have the option to publish the ranges of salaries for various positions and conduct regular audits of pay equity, amongst others. Employees are also allowed to submit a complaint for investigation when they believe they are not receiving equal pay for equal work done as their colleagues and where necessary, organizations are allowed to provide suitable conditions for women to do equal work as their male counterparts.
Sexual harassment
This covers the protection from unwelcome, offensive, persistent, implicit or explicit behaviour that is sexual in nature or a threat of reprisal or actual reprisal for refusing to comply with a sexually oriented request or other conduct based on sex, or gender. The Policy also covers avenues for reporting on sexual harassment, quid pro quo harassment and circumstances where the complaints are vexatious or unsubstantiated.
Gender bias and stereotypes
This provides protection against gender bias and stereotyping noting that it can be both conscious and unconscious. The Policy requires training and education of employees on various conducts such as mansplaining, stereotypical jokes about women, and micro-aggression towards men, that amount to gender bias and stereotyping. It also provides for the reporting of gender bias and stereotypes and the sanctions applicable to those found liable.
Women in Leadership in Law Initiative and the Gender Equality in Law Model Policy
The Gender Equality in Law Model Policy aligns with the IAWJ’s WILIL Initiative. Whilst the WILIL Initiative focuses solely on the judiciary, the Policy focuses on all women in law in Africa and covers three of the WILIL Pilot countries; South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. Central to the WILIL Initiative is the goal to achieve gender equity by tackling systemic barriers that prevent women judges from advancing and thriving in their judicial careers. These barriers include gender bias, unequal hiring and promotion opportunities; Moreover, one common goal of the WILIL pilot initiative aligns with the Model Policy’s goal to create equitable work environments for all women in law to thrive.
Both the Policy and the WILIL pilot initiative help to create a more inclusive legal profession where women are equally represented in leadership roles. They both help contribute to the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #5 on gender equality by addressing structural barriers and promoting women’s participation in decision-making processes.
This event represents a step in the right direction. An opportunity for every woman in Law to have an equal chance at rising up the summit. Through the conscious and intentional effort of all stakeholders in law, steady and sure progress can be made that effects great change in Africa and the world at large.
For more information concerning the event and the Policy,