Funke Abimbola MBE, General Counsel and Head of Financial Compliance at Roche, spoke to Lucia Sandin from Thomson Reuters about International Women’s Day (IWD) to discuss her views on gender diversity in the legal industry.
Abimbola has for some time championed the importance of building a diverse and more equal workforce within the legal industry. She has become a profound voice in the industry ─ often highlighting the necessity of tackling gender inequality, and how, if properly addressed, it can positively benefit organisations and society.
How did it all start for you, and when did you first become interested in the law?
I knew very early on, from the age of 10, that I wanted to become a lawyer. It was breaking with family expectation and tradition; I come from a family of doctors. I am the oldest child in the family, both my parents are doctors and my younger siblings have also gone on to become doctors, and I have various extended family members who are doctors. So doing law was a very conscious decision on my part. I was just so fascinated by the legal system, and how it could really shape society. This is particularly because I was born in Nigeria, where for many years – following independence – we didn’t have a democratically elected government. I saw what would happen if the rule of law wasn’t administered properly. I realised law was a very powerful tool in the wider societal context, to really shape the way society behaves as a whole.
Have your aspirations changed throughout your career?
Things have changed along the way, but what has remained the same is that I always wanted to be a business lawyer. I always knew I would be advising companies and organisations, so that has been consistent throughout. But initially I was going to stay in private practice, become a partner, build up a niche in an area and eventually become a managing partner of a highly regarded firm. That changed for a number of reasons, and the key one was having my son. Coming back to private practice after years of maternity leave fundamentally changed my views on working as a fee earner. That’s when I looked at options of maintaining practice but moving into industry.
What influences have impacted your career path?
I wanted to be much closer to the medical sector, because although I chose not to study medicine and become a doctor, I am surrounded by doctors, and that is very much my world and where I’m immersed. I wanted to find a way of combining both law and medicine. The only way I could see myself doing that in a broad sense was by working in-house for a medicines company, which is what I do now and have done for over six years. Medicine is very much a part of my life still and I manage to combine the two. Also, my father (Dr. Frank Akindolie) was very passionate about young people in medicine, and I wanted to do something that would honour him and help the younger generation as well. My siblings and I launched the Akindolie Medical Scholarship, a privately funded bursary and mentoring scheme for UK medical students from a minority ethnic background. The scholarship is now in its third year.
What do you think are the triggers around the increasing awareness of the need to address gender diversity issues?
I think what started it off is that the firms must have realised that they were losing a lot of talent. I can’t prove that, but I’d like to think that even mathematically, looking at how much they are investing in the female trainees, they must have realised they needed to see a better return on their investment. There are a combination of factors at play and the Law Society has shown real commitment to this agenda by launching the Diversity and Inclusion Charter and working hard to help firms to sign up to it. This commitment has had a massive part to play as have the efforts of organisations such as Aspiring Solicitors and Women in Law London. The other element is that clients and firms with a social conscience were already doing things around corporate social responsibility, of which this forms a part, and clients have been insisting on more diversity across their external law firms in increasing numbers. A lot of law firms started to realise that they could lose out on work and clients if they don’t show commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Did you have any role models throughout your career that inspire you? And do you have advice that you could share with fellow women in law looking to advance their career?
Role models are very important, and they have to be visible role models. Many aren’t visible or accessible role models. I think that is important, as we become what we see, so if you can’t see that visual representation it’s very hard to believe you can do it. In the legal world specifically, I didn’t have any role models, because for me to truly say ‘that was my role model and what inspired and pushed me’, I needed to have seen a black woman lawyer in a senior position. There are aspects or challenges of being black and female that someone who is not black and female would ever encounter. I didn’t see any such women, and there are too few in law for a fact. But I did have my parents as role models, both of whom had overcome all sorts of challenges. My father was a scholar in Germany in the sixties and taught himself German before going to medical school in Germany. My mother has had two medical careers – the first as an ophthalmic surgeon and the second as a psychiatrist. I looked at my parents and how they dealt with so many challenges, and become very successful in their careers despite those challenges.
My other inspiration is my son. He is only 15 and recently gave a speech in front of 150 people, saying that he gets his approach to life and problem solving from me. He has a great way of approaching life and challenges and he is a very strong leader, already at that age, and doesn’t compromise on what he believes in. Having the courage to do that, in your teens, is remarkable.
It’s good to have mentors, and I particularly like the way one of my mentees did it. She was very clever in the way she got me as a mentor, she never formally reached out and asked if I could be her mentor, instead we were meeting at events, occasionally exchanging emails, and having conversations. I am also very visible on social media, so she was able to see what I was doing, and based on this she used some of those behaviours to drive change in what she was doing. That is actually a very good methodology to follow. Mentors are important, but sponsors are vital. Mentors providing guidance will only take you so far. I also offer sponsorship to others that are more junior to me by actively spotting opportunities for them and putting them forward for things – championing them and writing references for job opportunities, things like that.
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is #pressforprogress. How do you think women working in law can/are already supporting this theme?
There is a lot of positive action including law firms that have set up women’s networks, running events regularly. People are making commitments to what they can do to drive change. ‘Lean in’ circles are encouraged more and more within firms as well. Gender targets have been set by firms, and recruitment has fundamentally changed at some firms, as well as working practices to try and retain the women and truly embrace agile working practices for both men and women. However, the key initiative for me has been UN Women’s #HeforShe campaign, because involving men is so important for gender equality. We can’t afford to ostracize men. Given that it is mainly men in positions of power, we need them to engage in change. In my own diversity work, there was a real tangible change when I engaged a number of male senior partners in different law firms during various efforts. It led to tangible change and many of those male leaders have now become very close friends.
This needs to be seen as a concerted effort requiring positive action, something I made a point of during my talk at the launch of Thomson Reuters Transforming Women’s Leadership programme in the UK. One of the simplest things we can do at these types of events is that every woman attending commits to bringing a male guest. We all have male colleagues that we know would be willing to attend with us. I went to an International Women’s Day event two years ago where about 40 percent of the audience was male. Off the back of that, a lot of the men went on to make commitments that have really helped that organisation on their own journey to gender diversity.
One of the key suggestions from The Global Gender Pay Gap Report, from the World Economic Forum, said that putting more women in charge was vital to closing the gender pay gap, as it results in more women in leadership positions across the board. What do you think about this suggestion?
I think it is important, because if we don’t have women in senior roles it leads to a bigger gender pay gap. But the other element leading to a pay gap is that women are more likely to work part-time so they are more likely to be on a lower salary because of that (largely due to carer responsibilities). What would work, and one of the things I will be involved with on IWD, is a major initiative within parliament with an organisation called Leaders Plus, pushing for more shared parental leave. The Cabinet Office is really pushing to change the culture around parental leave because there are many men who would like to stay at home after a child is born but the culture within many organisations simply doesn’t allow that to happen. If we can have a culture where more organisations truly support both agile working and shared parental leave, then that will help women progress to higher positions. It is a combination of all these things that will really make a difference in reducing the gender pay gap. I do think there will always be some women that choose to be at home with their children, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that choice.
Goals and targets are also very important. Without setting goals, we are wasting our time. We shouldn’t treat this any differently from other business goals. Once you set a gender-related goal, you need to then work backwards and see what steps you need to take now to maximise the opportunities for women to progress in their careers. It could be as simple as making sure women are confident enough to apply for senior roles in the first place. For example, I believe that women assume people know that they want to become a partner yet may not be explicit about that goal. Men are generally better at both making it clear what they are aiming for and self-promotion. There is nothing wrong with self-promotion but I often hear that it’s a bad thing. I self-promote to get key messages across that will drive societal change and I make a point of also promoting the efforts and achievements of my friends and mentees. It’s crucial that women are able to do that – women do not promote themselves enough. We do fantastic work but all too often will not be known or recognised for doing it.
Another important thing is for women that are on maternity leave to get support when returning back from maternity leave. I experienced that challenge after having my son and it was absolutely awful. I know younger female fee earners now that are experiencing it too, that feeling of acute isolation. We really do need targets and a plan underlying those targets. What you will see happen is that pipeline of female talent coming through that we currently don’t have for all sorts of reasons. I often hear from men who feel defensive and threatened by targets but I always say that if you excel in your role, you shouldn’t be afraid of targets, whether male or female!
