DIS-ERA Pledge Gender Champion Initiative

The DIS-ERA Pledge Gender Champion Initiative was brought into being by DIS and Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge (ERA Pledge) in October 2019. Based on the work of ERA Pledge, the pilot project aims at encouraging gender equality in international arbitration.   

Participating firms and organisations are asked to nominate a person acting as Gender Champion within their organisation. The Gender Champions monitor the appointments of female and male arbitrators made upon nomination by their firms. The statistical data collected by the Gender Champions remain within their firms and will not be recorded or published.  

The idea behind the Gender Champion Initiative is the effectiveness of statistical self-monitoring, aiming to raise awareness for gender equality in international arbitration. The Gender Champions exchange their experiences in conference calls regularly held with DIS and ERA Pledge. The goal is to set up a global network of Gender Champions, thereby increasing awareness for gender equality on an international level.

A number of Gender Champions have already signed up for the initiative. The kick-off call launching the initiative took place at the beginning of February 2020.

DIS is signatory to the ERA Pledge and collects and publishes statistical data on arbitral appointments in DIS-administered arbitration proceedings. Find out more about DIS’ engagement with equal representation in arbitration here.

You can find the statistics in the section "About us - Our work in numbers".

The following Gender Champions are already on board of the DIS-ERA Pledge Gender Champion Initiative:

The DIS-ERA Pledge Gender Champion Initiative is also included in the Report of the ICCA Cross-Institutional Task Force on Gender Diversity in Arbitral Appointments and Proceedings which has just been published on Kluwer Arbitration. The Report shares a vision of how gender diversity can progress in the field of international arbitration. DIS is a member of the Task Force and has contributed its own statistics to the Report. For more information on the Report please find the ICCA Press Release here „ICCA Press Release dated 28 July 2020“. The Report itself can be found here.

The concept paper of the DIS-ERA Pledge Gender Champion Initiative can be found here.

In case of questions or remarks please contact:

Mariana Candido de Oliveira Monteiro
genderchampions(at)no_spamdisarb.org

Website of the ERA Pledge: http://www.arbitrationpledge.com/