Ayotunde Phillips: Making a case for women leaders

All over the world there are policies and practices that limit women from performing certain roles in the society and hinder them from aspiring for some positions in life. In the largely patriarchal African societies, the representation of women in many strategic professions and services remains as uninspiring as ever.

This might explain why gender equality is one of the United Nations’ newly adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is obviously a bid to scale up efforts towards achieving gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.

Similar calls for gender diversity in leadership in the African corporate sector have been made as one of the pragmatic steps towards extracting the benefits of gender balanced teams for accelerated growth in many organisations.

Similarly, the advocacy by supporters of the 35 percent affirmative action is one that is focused on the greater value women can bring to governance if given as many opportunities as men get in  government appointments to public offices.

Meanwhile, like the philosophies of the great thinkers of the ancient Greece and other famous civilizations that have impacted on the progress of modern life, there is a woman whose philosophy is an existing and vibrant viewpoint poised to challenge African women to see possibilities and fire up their personal convictions to occupy bigger spaces.

Former chief judge of Lagos state, Mrs. Ayotunde Phillips, is the epitome and the leading light of this compelling experience.

From the respectable retired jurist’s outlook, while it is desirable that corporate entities are persuaded on the necessity of gender diversity and there are demands from the governments to create policies that are more women-friendly, women themselves are expected to let their talents and capability shine more brightly above the darkness of stereotypes and the proverbial glass-ceiling.

As observed, Phillips, through astonishing brilliance, steely conviction, lofty ideals and rooted aversion for gender-based biases has succeeded and continues to excel in undertakings deeply dreaded by many women.

Hers is evidently a captivating living intervention which African women can easily connect with and adopt.

Phillips, by the description of one of her mentees, a London-based charity organisation founder, Ms. Titilayomi Shonubi, “Mummy”, as she fondly calls the retired judge,  “is a practicable symbol of leadership by example.”

“She will always encourage people particularly women to pursue greatness   through their talents without giving a thought to any perceived or real barriers on their paths. And whenever a situation becomes more daunting than imagined, she is also available to support and be a guide through her own beautiful journey of life,” said Titilayomi.

In reality, more of such highly experienced mentors and guides are needed on a continent, especially in a country like Nigeria, where both young women and men are falling short of huge expectations due to meaningless institutional obstacles and the absence of exemplary figures around.

As such a perspective of an outstanding Phillips will help to bridge a gap and raise a generation of achievers through her long, committed and fascinating walk to a higher ground.

It is therefore instructive to mention that Phillips didn’t just suddenly stumble on success; she toiled for it and even, as they say, paid her dues.

Early in life she made a career choice in law. She therefore pursued it rigorously by enrolling and graduating with a law degree from the University of Lagos.

Phillips’ available profile has it that after being called to the bar, she worked briefly at a private law firm before she joined the services of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation and later moved to the Ministry of Justice where she later became a High Court Judge in 1994.

By 2012, her talent, as noted earlier, had illuminated well and her brilliance so profoundly felt such that her appointment as the chief judge of Lagos State, in a profession that parades many mighty men, was popularly applauded.

Interestingly, her younger sister, Mrs Oluwafunmilayo Atilade, also an embodiment of the viable and noble philosophy was named the chief judge of Lagos State when Phillips attained her retirement age in 2014.

Being a woman not known to be afraid of new challenges, Phillips was appointed Chairman of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) in 2016 and she creditably coordinated the just concluded elections in all the local governments in Lagos state.

Clearly, anyone with the knowledge of the level of tension from local government elections in Lagos state would admit that there is more to Phillips’ personality. Especially on her excellent management and delivery on such a herculean assignment that would make some men tremble.

Just some months ago the distinguished jurist was appointed by the Federation International Football Association (FIFA) into the highly respected FIFA Ethics Committee.

Consistently Phillips has been using her high ideals to accentuate the excellent roles women can play in improving our world. And she is in many ways a massive image of success worthy of emulation by both women and men.