The commitment and efforts of BLP to implement policies for full gender equity and equality arise from our Sustainability strategy that materializes our commitment to developing a program of active and responsible participation in the solution of our society’s problems. The inclusion of diversity has been a main objective for the firm since its founding.
This commitment has led us to carry out concrete actions in the recognition of women’s rights as an indispensable piece in the framework of social development. At BLP we promote and retain the female talent of our co-workers as an essential part of the Firm’s success.
Since 2008, BLP has launched a commission for gender equity with the participation of its partners, associates, managers, and other departments to analyze and promote actions to further gender equity and equality in the law firm. This commission has achieved the stipulation of internal measures such as labor flexibility, and reduced working hours, among others
Aware of the barriers that women face in their professional development, BLP has established policies that adapt to the needs of women who are mothers. There are also specific measures for attorneys who are fathers, allowing the possibility of deciding the number of days they want to spend at home with their wives and newborn children. Likewise, in accordance with legal requirements and for 8 years BLP has a conditioned space equipped for breastfeeding and the care of young children who accompany their mothers and fathers to work.
At BLP, women are part of decision-making positions, the percentage of members of the Central American firm is 33% in all countries except Costa Rica, where we have 35% members. Likewise, 50% of the legal and administrative personnel of BLP is made up of women. This is above the Latin American average which is 21% and is almost triple the national average of Costa Rica which is 13%. In Nicaragua, the participation of women is 35%, which means that the country is third in the region, behind Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. These figures were obtained from the Women in Law survey conducted in 2016.
“We are proud to say that BLP has women in all of its legal practice areas and in all of its administrative departments. Women are an essential part of the success that the firm has achieved in Costa Rica and Central America, “said Vivian Liberman, Partner at BLP who, in addition to directing the practice of banking law, is in charge of the Sustainability Strategy of BLP.
The measures that BLP has adopted to address the gender gap have earned us the recognition of good business practices granted by the United Nations Development Program and the National Institute for Women in 2017. This recognition is attributed to public and private organizations that promote and demonstrate gender equality effectively in the workplace.
As part of our external support for women’s rights, we are founders of Inspiring Girls, an international organization dedicated to increasing the empowerment of girls from all over the world by putting them in contact with women “role models” so that they feel capable of developing within any profession in the future.