Niamh Leinwather
Secretary General, Vienna International Arbitral Centre of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber
Niamh Leinwather

In 2024, we have still not broken the glass ceiling. It is high time that we make real progress. We need to strengthen and support women throughout their careers. Each and every stakeholder has a duty to contribute to closing the gender gap. Unfortunately, international arbitration still has a long way to go before sustainable progress has been made. In my tenure at VIAC gender will play an important role.

I support the IGC Panel Parity Pledge.

I support the IGC gender-based violence pledge.

Personal Commitments

I commit to organising an event in 2024 that highlights the lack of gender parity in the legal service as a whole but in particular in international arbitration.
As a consequence of my last year's personal commitment, we kickstarted The ADR Wellbeing Toolbox project, which is gaining a lot of recognition. We will continue to organize trainings and webinars to support the ADR community, with emphasis on emotional intelligence, stress management, personal growth, empowerment, and self-worth in collaboration with different mental health professionals.