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High costs of studying arbitration courses, fierce competition by men and fewer connections to qualified professions have been named as the major factors hindering more women from joining the sector.

Speaking at this year’s African Women Arbitration Symposium in Kampala on October 8, female arbitrators, under their umbrella African Women in Arbitration, said the low uptake of this career by ladies is leading to an increase in the case backlog.

“The numbers are not that bad because we are now 60:40 in terms of men to women arbitrators but again we need this number to grow so that we achieve a gender parity,” African Women in Arbitration executive director Edith Twinamatsiko said.

The female arbitrators also highlighted lack of supportive data due to the private nature of arbitration, making it even harder for women to break in.

Tanzania Institute of Arbitrators President Madeline Kimei said parties tend to mostly appoint men on arbitration panels, while overlooking women thinking that they are less experienced.

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