Lifting the Voices of Others. Member Spotlight: Afsana Gibson-Chowdhury
Afsana Gibson-Chowdhury is a lawyer and human rights mediator from Sheffield, England. After attending law school and practicing for several years, Afsana and her family moved to Canada in search of new opportunities. In Ontario, that’s exactly what she found. Soon after shadowing several mediators and finding a mentor in another MBBI member, Afsana became a human rights mediator herself. Today, she’s found her niche promoting and teaching cultural sensitivity within mediation. She’s gained very well-deserved recognition and success throughout the field by opening key dialogues and educating professionals on the value of diversity in mediation. Through her efforts Afsana lifts the voices of women and people of color across the country, and continues to ensure that the field of mediation will never be the same as the way she found it.
Afsana’s Background
Afsana was born in the north of England, where she grew up and went to school in Sheffield. She stayed there for law school and then went to Bristol for bar school. However in 2012, Afsana and her family made the courageous decision to move to Canada.
Afsana found time for reflection in the move, and began to consider whether being a litigator was truly what she wanted. She recognized that in her work she had always been averse to the adversarial part of law. Instead, she often found herself negotiating between the parties to find a settlement to the case. To Afsana, resolving the issues in such a way that both parties could walk away feeling justly treated was always more important.
“From a young age, I found myself always trying to look out for my client’s best interests, but never leaving the table completely empty for the other party. Making them a responsible and fair offer that I know my client is willing to compromise on always brought cases towards settlement.”
Afsana explains that for her it was instinctive to do this kind of work. Throughout her life she’s always been interested in how childhood and family culture shape the way people are. In Afsana’s case her parents were Muslim and Bangladeshi, and they always did things for the profit of the larger community. Their way of being bred kindness, generosity, and love. It was based on the principle that you should never leave others behind and success should be for everyone to matter who they are. This sense of community in Afsana’s upbringing was continuously embedded in her. No matter what, she’s always felt that desire to make sure everyone else is taken care of too.
For Afsana it was natural to apply these same principles to law. To her, law wasn’t just about justice and punishing the wrongdoers, but about the journey. Just her short time practicing Criminal law she found there was no space to have these kinds of conversations. To her it’s clear that this way peace would always be more sustainable.
“I needed to understand what’s behind it all. I needed to understand how we can work for a society where we don’t just put criminals behind bars and continue the cycle. Yes, we have to keep society safe, but we should have been thinking about restorative justice.”
Exploring Mediation
When Afsana got to Canada, she was introduced to a mediator through some of her legal contacts, and quickly became fascinated with the field. She shadowed mediators work and went to several mediations with other lawyers as well. From there on, she was very drawn to the idea that she could work within the law, but in a way that made peace rather than continued conflict. Afsana knew mediation was what she wanted to do.
Though it didn’t happen overnight, she set herself to building a practice and searching for a niche that would suit her. While she was very good at personal injury, which she used to litigate, Afsana realized that the level of dialogue in those cases still wouldn’t be enough for the kind of work she was most interested in. Afsana explains that she always wanted to be a human rights lawyer, but instead she found herself held back by the expectations of the British legal culture and simply going where numbers were needed. Now she’s chosen to trust herself and follow the career that gives her energy and fulfillment. Her plight in taking this direction was also supported by her mentor and MBBI member, Alicia Kuin.
“I never got to be a human rights lawyer, but now even better, I get to be a human rights mediator. There’s so much conflict in the world that we don’t need an adversarial system to help us prove which side is wrong or right. We need to build peace that is longer lasting rather than having a winner and a loser.”
After finding her way in the field, Afsana founded her own mediation boutique called Gibson Chowdhury Mediation. Having her own firm has allowed her to continue to specialize and make a name for herself in the area she cares about more.
Opening Culturally Sensitive Dialogue
Today, Afsana opens conversations on sensitive issues on all forms of discrimination under local Human Rights legislation, including, racism, and anti-Islamophobia. From her own level of intersectionality, she can understand how various societal factors affect different people. Her identity allows her to tap in and out of diverse groups and really understand their realities. From here, she can understand how she can help them most effectively.
“It’s incredible how much we need more people like me doing this kind of work. We have different levels of understanding that come from different lived experiences. They allow us to really get to the root of what needs to be done.”
When she was considering starting her career in mediation, Afsana was often told that women, and especially women of color, were not really hired. Despite the string of warnings, Afsana barreled ahead. She recognizes that she’s likely had to work twice as hard for every success she’s accomplished due to the strong undercurrent of discrimination that exists even now in the field of law and mediation. Her experience reinforced to her how important it is for others to be culturally sensitive in this profession. And she didn’t stop there.
The challenges Afsana faced left her not only undeterred, but also fiercely determined to make a change. She realized that so many other women must be facing this same discrimination, even in a multi-cultural country like Canada. So she decided to do something about it.
“I know I have it in me to never give up. I’ve had to work twice as hard, but I know what I’m working towards. I know what I have to do to spill some light onto these issues.”
Afsana started conducting research on why lawyers in Toronto were more likely to mediate with White men. She put together a program with the results and included information on why having mediators from different backgrounds is imperative to the profession. She explains that when it comes to settlement, many mediators still lack the understanding of how cultural knowledge influences the interests and issues in the mediation. This can affect whether they table culturally appropriate options for settlement.
“When it comes to settlement, we’re still geared towards settling to what a white man would like.”
On top of her programs, Afsana has done hundreds of presentations about cultural competency in mediation. Eventually, she co-chaired a report with a working group to build more data on the demographic trends of mediators who are getting employed. The report, “Neutral Diversity in Ontario” was published by the Ontario Bar Association in 2022. The report provided several recommendations, which are actively used to this day.
Today Afsana is very proud of the time and effort that she poured into raising this type of awareness, and rightfully so. The contribution she makes to the field has been tangible and impactful.
Looking Forward
In the future, Afsana will continue to build her international reputation to work globally. Her niche has made her relevant, unique, and highly valuable in her field. At MBBI, she joined the Women in Mediation Action Group, and continues to make an impact contributing to the United Nations Multilateral Working Group.
From her experience, Afsana hopes to remind new mediators to never forget how good they truly are and that they have a lot to offer. No matter how much she’s done or how well she’s done it, Afsana has often felt like it’s never enough. As she moves forward she hopes to empower others with the knowledge of how much they really are accomplishing.
Afsana also hopes to share the joy and enrichment that can come from understanding other cultures. She recently had the idea to create a cultural calendar, where she researched each holiday celebrated around the world every month. Bringing this to her colleagues gave them new knowledge, inspiration, and a genuine form of connection to those around them. The work that Afsana does to ensure that people respect and value cultural differences in mediation is fundamental in creating awareness. But it also fosters understanding and community. Afsana explains that you never really know how much impact you’re going to have until you put yourself out there, even when starting small.
“It’s really interesting work, to foster the realization that we’re all just one, and we need to support each other.”
Afsana is driven forward by many things. Instead of being discouraged, she’s motivated by the fact that so many people are just hearing what she has to say for the first time. She’s motivated by the fact that many people have never really considered racism, seen the value in diversity and inclusion, or made an effort to understand the experience of others. She’s also encouraged by the fact that every day she works, someone else becomes more informed. Someone else finally sees the world from a different lens.
“I hope that from this article more people will look into cultural competency work, and do some self-reflection. I hope they start to have more awareness of who they are.”
Through mediation, Afsana has been able to give a voice to issues that have been long ignored, and support clients in resolving each of their unique conflicts. Her intersectional identity may have at times felt like a burden, that has closed doors in her face. Yet, Afsana found a way to build her skillset into a something that’s changed lives and energized a diverse following of women who feel inspired by her. As she looks forward in her career, Afsana would love to collaborate with other MBBI members to build on what she already knows and take it even further. She hopes to work on bigger geopolitical conflicts, and step up to the tables that still almost exclusively belong to men.
Knowing Afsana, there’s nothing that could get in her way.
Article by Elise Webster, MBBI Writer