Party Invitation
Case manager assistant CAM-CCBC, Master of Alternative Dispute Resolution in business conflict by Escola Paulista de Direito.
If you were one of the underdogs in school and were not invited to that one birthday party, you know the feeling. If you ever wore jeans and t-shirt to a restaurant only to find suits and ties and designer dresses, you also know the feeling. If you are a black person who entered an establishment where there were only white people, you certainly know the feeling.
This feeling of being left out. Of not fitting in. This solitude of being in a place where only you are like you. Well, women have been going through that for a while. We know that feeling.
But, fortunately, its 2021 and although the world scenario does not look very promising in many aspects, to women some achievements are already taking effect. Economically and financially, women’s value is more and more perceived: according to the McKinsey Global Institute Report 2015, having women in leadership roles can inject up to US$ 12 trillion in global GDP until 2025, US$ 410 billion of those being in Brazil; on the financial part, the Catalyst NGO Research verified that in businesses with a larger proportion of women in boards, the return on invested capital is 66% bigger, return on equity is 53% bigger and sales index is 42% bigger.
Not by chance, CAM-CCBC (Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil Canada), made up of and lead mostly by women, stood at the top of the Arbitration Centers in Brazil in 2021 rank by Leaders League.
As if the great example provided by the institution alone was not enough, CAM-CCBC has been working tirelessly to reduce that feeling of exclusion we already know. In 2018, Administrative Resolution 30/2018 (RA 30/2018) was issued containing measures that aim at equal opportunities for women in Arbitration. In order to end the lack of representation in events and providing empathetic educational experiences and richer exchanges, events held, supported, and sponsored by CAM-CCBC count with the representation of at least 30% of women in panels.
Reason for great celebration for arbitral women and for the institution, CAM-CCBC surpassed, at the end of 2020, the goal of having at least 30% representation of women among the members of its list of arbitrators.
Achievements like this deserve celebration. In CAM-CCBC, 61% of tribunals are mixed, almost 5% are tribunals composed only of women and 42% of the tribunals are chaired by women.
Of course, the work does not end here. There is still a lot of space to be conquered by women in arbitration, but we can sleep a little better knowing that, at this rate, until 2024 CAM-CCBC’s list of arbitrators will be able to find the perfect gender balance.
That feeling of exclusion, of strangeness, of non-conformity, it does not exist within CAM-CCBC itself. And being in such an environment is so nice that this institution insists that more such places exist in arbitration. Nobody else will be left out of this party.
