Law Society event hears of ‘beauty of differences’
An event in the Law Society has been told of the importance for people from immigrant and other communities of seeing themselves represented in the professions – including the legal sector.
The panel discussion in the Law Society (28 October), organised by the Blackhall trainees’ Cultural Diversity Society and PPC Connect, was held to mark Black History Month.
It featured insights from three successful women: two Nigerian and one Zimbabwean.
Dr Joy-Tendai Kangere BL told the event that Black History Month belonged to everyone in the world because “our histories are intertwined”.
Hiring practices
The barrister, who was born in Zimbabwe and educated in South Africa and Ireland, also stressed the importance of people from under-represented communities seeing themselves in areas such as the legal profession.
“You cannot be what you do not see,” she stated.
She told the event that, while there should not be ‘tokenism’, institutions and public bodies should strive to show that there were people who had “taken that step”.
The barrister welcomed, however, recent changes in hiring practices and traineeships in law firms aimed at bringing in more people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Shaped by background
Aishah Akorede, a former Miss Universe who has a legal background in corporate governance, told the event how her cultural background had shaped her journey, having been born in Ireland to Nigerian parents of two different religions.
She said that her upbringing taught her “the beauty of differences; the beauty in diversity of thoughts”.
Akorede said that she had always wanted to be a lawyer and not a “pageant girl” but added that Miss Universe had given her the opportunity to meet many successful, impactful, powerful, women.
Potential
Aghogho Okpara, medical student and founder of AWA, an initiative aimed at encouraging inclusion in education, said that there were not many role models for her when she arrived in Ireland as an immigrant, as the population was not as diverse.
She said that her message to people was that they did not need to give up if things did not go their way initially.
“Just because you come from a certain type of background doesn't mean that your potential is capped,” Okpara stated.
“Being able to show the next generation what's possible, and being able to open doors that perhaps they wouldn't have thought they belonged in before, has been really transformative to me,” she told the event.
Resources
Okpara said that AWA was focused on providing giving the people the necessary tools to be successful.
“You can believe in yourself all you want internally, but if you don't have access to resources that self-belief is going to dip,” she stated.
Stressing the importance of education, Okpara told the event about returning to her family’s home village in Nigeria and seeing herself in the people there.
“And I thought about the fact the only thing that differentiates me from these people is that I've had access to education and that has been able to change my life,” she said.