Arbitration in 2017: Greater gender balance

The gender imbalance in the senior ranks of the legal profession is no secret. Lawyers have struggled with the question of how to redress the balance, without particular success, for many years.

In 2016 the arbitration world took a significant step forward in this area by launching the “Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge”. The aim of the Pledge is two-fold: (i) to improve the profile of women in arbitration, and (ii) to appoint more women as arbitrators.

As at 01 December 2016, the Pledge had received 1,559 signatories, including most of the major law firms, arbitral institutions and a number of corporate entities who are regular users of arbitration, such as BP and Shell.

In terms of the practical effects of the Pledge, we expect to see more women being proposed for tribunals (both in terms of institutional appointments, and party nominations). As to how this might affect the arbitral process, there is much evidence to suggest that there is a significant benefit to having a mixed gender panel making decisions.

Lord Mervyn Davies’ study on diversity in the boardroom reported on the positive impact that women were having at the top table, specifically citing the benefits as being:

“the changing nature of the discussion, level of challenge and improved all round performance of the Board.”

There is no reason why these benefits would not translate into the arbitral process, making for an improved and more robust process and decision. In addition, there has long been a problem in international arbitration of a small pool of established arbitrators being requested for tribunals, leading to delays in many cases as the most popular struggle to juggle their diaries. The diversification of the pool of arbitrators is long overdue.

It is still too early to assess what impact the Pledge has had in terms of establishing some sort of gender parity. However, it marks the first step along the road to attaining this goal, and paves the way for future initiatives for other under-represented groups in the arbitration community. As arbitration increasingly becomes the dispute resolution format of choice for disputes involving Africa, 2017 may see the beginning of a movement for greater racial diversity amongst tribunals as well.