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126 NEWSLETTER 2018 tors, 249 were women, which represents a percentage of 16.7% of all arbitrators nominated or appointed 5 . Among these appointments, the ICC Court appointed a higher percentage with 45%; whereas, the parties appointed 41%, and co-arbitrators, 13.7% 6 . When it comes to Turkey, the percentage of appointment of fe- male arbitrators through the Istanbul Arbitration Center (ISTAC) ar- bitrations reveals that the participation of women arbitrators is above the numbers revealed by the ICC statistics. Accordingly, in ISTAC Arbitrations, 30% of arbitrations have been conducted with a female chairman and, again, in 30% of the cases, the majority of arbitral tri- bunals were composed of female arbitrators 7 . Another development on gender diversity across arbitral tribu- nals is the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge (“Pledge”). As of July 23, 2018, there are 2,926 signatories to the Pledge, including many arbitral organizations, academic institutions, as well as individu- als. It is also worth mentioning that the Pledge has been awarded as the best development in arbitration by the Global Arbitration Review (GAR) Awards in 2017. The Pledge seeks to increase, on an equal opportunity basis, the number of women appointed as arbitrators in order to achieve fair representation as soon practically possible, with the ultimate goal of full parity 8 . The solution proposed by the Pledge on equal representa- tion of women is worth analyzing. Firstly, it is stated that the Steering Committee and the consultants discussed the possibility of setting a quota or target to ensure equal representation; however, this proposi- tion has not been adopted. Instead of a quota, a more flexible standard 5 ICC Announces 2017 Figures Confirming Global Reach and Leading Position for Complex, High-Value Disputes, (“ICC Figures – 2017”), https://iccwbo.org/me- dia-wall/news-speeches/icc-announces-2017-figures-confirming-global-reach- leading-position-complex-high-value-disputes/ (Access date: July 2018). 6 ICC Figures – 2017. 7 Kolcuoglu, Umut : Sayilarla Istanbul Tahkim Merkezi (Istanbul Arbitration Cen- ter with Numbers), https://www.dunya.com/kose-yazisi/sayilarla-istanbul-tah- kim-merkezi/423171 (Access date: July 2018). 8 Commentary to the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge, http://www.arbi- trationpledge.com/about-the-pledge (Access date: July 2018).