March 8, 2021
It is only three months into 2021, but we have celebrated ground-breaking achievements of women globally. On 20 January 2021, Ms Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first female Vice-President of the United States of America, on 06 February 2021, Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa was elected as the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission and on 15 February 2021, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed as the first female Director-General of the World Trade Organisation following the General Council’s agreement by consensus. Female leaders of countries such as Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Taiwan and New Zealand, have been extolled for their effective management of the COVID-19 crisis.
To mark the 2021 International Women’s Day themed #Choose to Challenge, Afronomicslaw.org celebrates women’s achievements through a Conversation Series with selected distinguished international (economic) law scholars from across the globe. We discuss inter alia their research interests, career highlights, achievements, challenges, lessons learned and advice to younger academics. As we gradually recover from the COVID-19 crisis following the approval and dissemination of vaccines, we also discuss the changes to the world that they would like to see. Words that aptly describe our featured scholars include “Ambitious”, “Courageous”, “Curious”, “Friendly” “Organised” and “Positive.”
Afronomicslaw.org is pleased to note that this is our second year in a row of marking International Women’s Day and showcasing female scholars important contributions to international law (see our 2020 International Women’s Day publications here). To update our Women in International Law Repository, we invite our readers to self-nominate or nominate other women. Please send the nominees title, full name, areas of specialisation and institutional affiliation to afronomicslaw@gmail.com.