Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Comparative African Politics and International Relations
Georgia State University
2010

Master of Arts (M.A.)

International Development Studies
Ohio University
2004

Barrister-at-Law (Juris Doctor equivalent)

Law
Ghana School of Law
2001

Bachelor of Law (LLB)

Law
University of Ghana
1999

Comparative African politics

Gender and judging, Women and the legal professions

Women and the Law

Judicial politics and rule of law in Africa

International human rights-- violence against women and girls, human trafficking

Democratization and women's civil society organizing

International law-- international courts and tribunals, women in international diplomacy

Gender, law and politics (undergraduate)

African Nationalism (undergraduate)

Introduction to political science (undergraduate)

Africa in World Politics (graduate)

International Law (graduate)

Political Leadership in Africa (graduate)

Women and Politics: Comparative Perspectives (graduate)

Visiting Professor: Kings College Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, UK (2024-

Fellow: University of Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (2022)

Fellow/Chair: Institute for Advanced Studies, Aix-Marseille, France (2023)

Fellow: Salzburg Global Fellows (2022)

100 Women Law Firm/Organization Founders (Court Room Mail, Nigeria, 2021)

Winner: Women in Academia - Women in Law Initiative- Vienna, Austria, 2020

Outstanding Assistant Professor (COAS) 2018

The White House: President Obama’s Volunteer and Service Award (2016)

Outstanding Registered Student Organization Advisor. Georgia Gwinnett College (2013)

Outstanding Student Engagement Award. Georgia Gwinnett College (2012)

Fulbright Specialist Scholar

Global Fellow: Wilson Center Women in Public Leadership Program. Washington, DC.

Visiting Scholar: Queens University. Faculty of Law, Kingston, ON, Canada.

Fellow: Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship

Visiting Scholar: University of Copenhagen. Faculty of Law iCourts The Danish National Research Foundation’s Center for Excellence in International Courts.

The legal profession in Ghana: from indigenization to globalization

The legal profession in Ghana: from indigenization to globalization

The legal profession in Ghana traces its origins to the British legal system which was transplanted to Ghana during colonization. Since the first Ghanaian lawyer was called to the British Bar in 1887, the legal profession has grown and developed into a cadre of lawyers who act in various professional capacities. This article uses a historical institutionalist approach in examining the development of the legal profession in Ghana. The article provides in depth analyses of the changes that have taken place in the profession since the first law school was established in Ghana in 1958. It examines various transformations that have occurred, and how lawyers have navigated the fast-changing globalization trends at the domestic and international levels. The article concludes with ideas for future research on the legal profession in Ghana.

Representation and Inclusion in Diplomacy

Representation and Inclusion in Diplomacy: A Closer Look at Black Women US Ambassadors

This paper will first discuss and evaluate the lack of diversity in the appointment of Black women as ambassadors. Second, it will briefly discuss the history of past and present Black women ambassadors. Third, the paper provides recommendations and advocates for increased diversity and inclusion of Black women in the Foreign Service.

Vive la Diversité or Aluta Continua? Achieving Gender Equity on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

Vive la Diversité or Aluta Continua? Achieving Gender Equity on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Connecticut Journal of International Law, Volume 34, No. 3, 2019

This article explores two interrelated questions; first, how did the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACtHPR) achieve a sex balanced bench within the first 13 years of its existence? Second, how can the record of the ACtHPR be replicated in other regional courts? This paper explores these questions within the context of the ACtHPR, an African regional court based in Arusha, Tanzania.

African Women Judges on International Courts

African Women Judges on International Courts: Symbolic or Substantive Gains? in University of Baltimore Law Review Vol. 47, 2 (3)

This article documents the substantive contributions women judges make to international courts. It moves beyond symbolic and descriptive analyses of why gender matters on international courts and opens up a new discussion on the need to more closely evaluate the contributions women judges bring to international courts.

Her Ladyship Chief Justice

Her Ladyship Chief Justice: The rise of female leaders in the judiciary in Africa

In recent years, women have been selected as leaders of African judiciaries. This ar- ticle identifies where and when women have become chief justices and presidents of constitutional courts from 1990 to 2014. We profile women from three civil-law and three common-law countries and find that the women selected meet or exceed the requirements for holding the highest position in the judiciary. We then explore why some African countries, but not others, have had female judicial leaders. We initially find that the selection method may be less important than the type of le- gal system, the commitment of gatekeepers, the end of major armed conflict, and regional diffusion in explaining why some countries have seen women rise to leadership positions in the judiciary.

The Gendered Face of HIV/AIDS

The Gendered Face of HIV/AIDS: The Move Towards Policy Implementation in Ghana in Studies in Gender and Development in Africa (SIGADA). Vol. 2, September. (pp.78-94).

This paper examines the institutional and structural frameworks for dealing with HIV/AIDS in Ghana. Using concept analysis, it examines the frameworks for their gender and development implications. It finds that the social group most adversely affected by HIV/AIDS in Ghana is women. This is attributed to social, economic, cultural, and institutional obstacles. While efforts at fighting the disease by the Government of Ghana through the Ghana Aids Commission, donor partners and civil society are noteworthy, it is also clear that the frameworks applied do not adequately address the gendered nature of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

BOOKS

The Oxford Research Handbook on Women in International Law (2025)

This book interrogates women's interrelationship with international law's institutions, norms, and theoretical approaches. 

African Women Judges: Storytelling as Judicial Freedom (2025)

This edited volume centers the voices of African women judges as agents of justice and equality. 

Intersectionality and Women’s Access to Justice (2022)

This book propounds layered intersectionality as a paradigm for examining how gendered factors affect women's access to justice, whether as judges or litigants.

Gender, Judging and the Courts in Africa: Selected Studies (2022)

This book provides a timely and broad-ranging assessment of gender and judging in African judiciaries. Employing different theoretical approaches, the book investigates how women have fared within domestic African judiciaries as both actors and litigants.

International Courts and the African Woman Judge: Unveiled Narratives (2018)

A sequel to Bauer and Dawuni's pioneering study on gender and the judiciary in Africa (Routledge, 2016), International Courts and the African Woman Judge examines questions on gender diversity, representative benches, and international courts by focusing on women judges from the continent of Africa.

Gender and the Judiciary in Africa: From Obscurity to Parity? (2016)

While women’s increasing numbers and roles in African executives and legislatures have been addressed in a burgeoning scholarly literature, very little work has focused on women in judiciaries. This book addresses the important issue of the increasing numbers and varied roles of women judges and justices, as judiciaries evolve across the continent.

Book Chapters

Chapter 6: Intersectionality, Feminist Judgments, and the International Criminal Court: Whose Feminist Is It Anyway? in Feminist Judgments: Reimagining the International Criminal Court (pp. 87-103).

Chapter 1: Why Women and International Law? in The Oxford Research Handbook on Women in International Law (pp. 3-18).

Chapter 32: Feminizing Third World Approaches to International Law in The Oxford Research Handbook on Women in International Law (pp. 519-534).

Chapter 1: Who Will Sing Their Songs? Women Judges and the Power of Judicial Storytelling in African Women Judges: Storytelling as Judicial Freedom (pp.1-30).

Chapter 1: Layered intersectionality and framing feminist legal discourse on access to justice for women in Intersectionality and Women’s Access to Justice.

Introduction: Gender and judging across Africa: A case of old wine in new skins or new wine in old skins? in Gender, Judging and the Courts in Africa: Selected Studies.

Chapter 6: Transplantation and Domestication of American Models of Legal Education in Nigeria. in American Legal Education Abroad: Critical Histories (pp. 139-161).

Chapter 7: Breaking the veil of masculinity? Women in the Legal Academy in Ghana in Gender and Careers in the Legal Academy (pp. 151-172).

Chapter 26: Keeping Gender on the Agenda for International Benches: A case study of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Identity and Diversity on the International Bench: Who is the Judge?

Women in Judiciaries Across Africa in The Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies (pp. 353-373).

Chapter 15: Judicial service commissions and the appointment of women to higher courts in Nigeria and Zambia in Research Handbook on Law and Courts (pp. 213-230).

Chapter 5: Teaching Through the Lens of a Mother in Paradise to Regain: Post-Obama Insights from Women Educators of the Black Diaspora.

Chapter 26: Matri-legal Feminism: An African Feminist Response to International Law in Research Handbook on Feminist Approaches to International Law. Edward Elgar Publishing, (pp. 445-462).

Chapter 4: Judge Akua Kuenyehia: Leaving a Mark Along the Journey for Human Rights in International Courts and the African Woman Judge: Unveiled Narratives.

Introduction: Challenging Gender Universalism and Unveiling the Silenced Narrative of the African Woman Judge in International Courts and the African Woman Judge: Unveiled Narratives.

Conclusion: International Courts and the African Woman Judge: Unlocking Doors, Leaving a Legacy in International Courts and the African Woman Judge: Unveiled Narratives.

The Socio-Economic Implications of Violence Against Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Women Empowerment for Sustainability in Africa.

Chapter 6: Beyond the Accent: “Intersectionality” in a Foreign-Trained Instructor Classroom in Engaging Difference: Teaching Humanities and Social Science in Multicultural Environments.

Gender and the Judiciary: An Introduction in Gender and the Judiciary in Africa: From Obscurity to Parity?

Chapter 9: Ghana: The Paradox of Judicial Stagnation  in Gender and the Judiciary in Africa: From Obscurity to Parity?

Justice Annie Ruth Jiagge in Dictionary of African Biography.

Globalizing Voices: Ghanaian Women Respond to Globalization in Corruption and the Challenge of Human Development (pp.475-489).

RESEARCH REPORTS

1. Dawuni, J.J (2024). Women in Law Across Africa: Is the Glass Half Full?
   1. A continent-wide study based on 590 survey responses examining the challenges and opportunities women in law face across Africa.

2. Dawuni, J.J (2023) (Lead Consultant). Women in Law and Leadership: Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa.
   1. A four-nation study resulting in 10 standalone reports on women judges, lawyers and legal academics in four countries. A scoping study to inform the Gates Foundation on how to invest in women in law and leadership in Africa.

3. Dawuni, J.J (2023) (Lead Series Editor). Women at Howard University (Working Paper Series): Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership.
   1. A comprehensive review of women’s representation in departments and colleges at Howard University, with 19 standalone reports written by graduate students. I designed and oversaw the entire project with support from Dr. Anita Plummer (Associate Director of Research—Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership).

4. Dawuni, J.J (Lead Consultant). Women in African Judiciaries: A study of 14 countries. UNDP Report.

A 14-nation study of women judges in Africa to understand their challenges and opportunities for leadership. 

CREATIVE WORKS- VIDEO PRODUCTION

1. Dawuni, J.J (2023). Women in Leadership at Howard University

   1. I designed and produced a story-telling project documenting the leadership trajectory of 14 women deans, chairs and leaders at Howard University. A product of the Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership

       

2. Dawuni, J.J (2022). African Women in Law Legacy Project

   1. An oral history project documenting the professional trajectory of the top women judges across Africa, including Chief Justices and judges of international courts and tribunals.

       

3. Dawuni, J.J (2023). African Women in Law: Becoming a Partner
   1. An oral history project documenting how women get into leadership positions in law firms as partners and managing partners.

CREATIVE WORKS-PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP

• Dawuni, J.J (2024). Is the Law Society of Kenya ready for a woman president? Available at https://www.africanwomeninlaw.com/post/is-the-law-society-of-kenya-ready-for-a-woman-president

   

• Dawuni, J.J. (2023). Women in law and leadership: How Kenya (almost) got it right. Available at https://www.africanwomeninlaw.com/post/women-in-law-and-leadership-how-kenya-almost-got-it-right

• Dawuni, J.J. (2023). Women and access to justice in Africa. Women cannot wait another 100 years. Brookings Institute: Foresight Africa. Available at https://www.brookings.edu/articles/women-and-access-to-justice-in-africa-women-cannot-wait-another-100-years/

• Dawuni J. Jarpa. (2022). Transformation of Ghana’s legal profession. A return to Kwame Nkrumah’s vision? The Conversation. Available at https://theconversation.com/transformation-of-ghanas-legal-profession-a-return-to-kwame-nkrumahs-vision-174921

   

• Dawuni J. Jarpa. (2021). The African Court: From the Gender of Politics to the Politics of Gender? Why Women’s Representation on the Bench is not Enough. Available at https://www.africanwomeninlaw.com/post/the-african-court-from-the-politics-of-gender-to-the-gender-of-politics

   

• Dawuni J. Jarpa. (2020). Open Letter to the African Union: Africa’s Opportunity to Address Gender Diversity at the International Court of Justice. Available https://www.africanwomeninlaw.com/post/open-letter-to- the-african-union-africa-s-opportunity-to-address-gender-diversity-at-the-cj

   

• Dawuni J. Jarpa. (2020). Disrupting Global Patriarchy: Why Gender Diversity at the International Court of Justice Matters for Africa and the World.

   

• Dawuni J. Jarpa. (2020). Gendered Face of  COVID-19: Women and Access to Justice. UNODC Judicial Integrity Network. Available at : https://www.unodc.org/dohadeclaration/en/news/2020/04/gendered-face-of- covid19-women-and-access-to-justice.html

   

• Dawuni J. Jarpa. (2018). Why More Women on the Supreme Court of Ghana Matters: Open Letter to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Available at: https://www.africanwomeninlaw.com/post/why-more-women-on-the-supreme-court-of-ghana-matters-open-letter-to-president-nana-addo-dankwa-akuf

   

• Beyond the Numbers: Gender Parity on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights – A Lesson for African Regional Courts? (2018). Available at: https://ilg2.org/2018/08/28/beyond-the- numbers-gender-parity-on-the-african-court-on-human-and-peoples-rights-a-lesson-for african- regional-courts/

   

• Justice Hub-The Hague. (2018). African women judges serve on international courts due to their personal agency and not tokenism.

   

• Dawuni, Josephine. (2016). African Women Judges on International Courts: Symbolic or Substantive Gains? iCourts Working Paper Series, No. 60. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2777972

   

• GQUAL Campaign Interview. (2018). Available at http://www.gqualcampaign.org/wp- content/uploads/2018/04/GQUAL-Campaign-Interview_JJD.pdf

   

• Wilson Center Women in Public Service Project. (2018). Global Voices in International Law: International Courts and Women Judges. Video 

   

   

• Dawuni, J (2017). African Women Judges and Gender Parity on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. London School of Economics Blog

   

• Valuing Diversity in All Forms in International Courts. Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting, 111, 296-299. doi:10.1017/amp.2017.84

   

• GQUAL Campaign Interview. (2018). Available at http://www.gqualcampaign.org/wp- content/uploads/2018/04/GQUAL-Campaign-Interview_JJD.pdf

   

• Achieving Gender Parity in International Courts and Bodies: Does Diversity Matter? Available: Institute for African Women in Law Blog.

   

• African Women Judges and Gender Parity on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Available at; https://ilg2.org/

   

• Vive la Diversité! Roadmap to Gender Parity on African Regional Courts? Feminist Critiques of International Law Symposium Available at: http://voelkerrechtsblog.org/vive-la-diversite/

   

• "As straight as an arrow!" Justice Amina Augie’s Journey to the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Available at: https://www.africanwomeninlaw.com

   

• Race to the top? African women judges and international courts. International Law Girls Blog.

   

• The Reality of Women Judges in International Courts. 2016. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-99F7JmlcIk

   

• Dawuni, Josephine. (2009.) “The Ghana Women’s Movement and Democratic Changes: Open or Closed Spaces?” Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID). February 24. 2009.

   

• Dawuni, Josephine. (2004). TransAfrica Forum: The Globalization Monitor (editor) “Privatization of Water in Africa, Caribbean and Latin America. 2004.Vol 11 Issue 1.

   

BOOK REVIEWS

• Dawuni, Josephine. (2018). Women’s Activism in Africa. Balghis, Badri and Aili Mari Tripp. Journal of Women, Politics and Policy, 39(4).

• Dawuni, Josephine. (2010). Gender Politics and Democracy in Post-Socialist Europe (review). by Yvonne Galligan, Sara Clavero and Marina Calloni: VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations: Volume 21, Issue 4: 633.