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AMANDLA! VANGUARD EDITION

Akua Kuenyehia

Akua Kuenyehia

Former Judge, International Criminal Court.
First woman law Professor and Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana.

My Story, Your Inspiration

When I was young, most courses in the arts prepared people to become teachers, I did not want to become a teacher and, with my good grades, studying the law gave me other options and that was enough for me. Right from the get go, I realized that the perception that the law was gender neutral was not accurate. If the laws were gender neutral, why were there so many discriminatory practices against women? I started to focus on these issues, and that is how my interest in women's rights grew.

One day I came back from work very late; my little girl had left a note on my pillow about waiting for me for a long time and not seeing me. I cried and sat by her bed, and I decided to make time for my children—she was missing out completely. It IS NEVER an easy balance; I suppose you work at it and do the best you can. You lose out a bit, and the children lose too.

Quoted in International Courts and the African Woman Judge: Unveiled Narratives (Routledge, 2018).

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