he Women in Law initiative-Pakistan held a three-day exhibition at Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore, from April 25 to April 27to mark 100 years of the law that removed restrictions on women’s right and eligibility to practice law.

The exhibition featured over 200 women legal professionals and law students from diverse backgrounds from all parts of the country as well as the Pakistani women working abroad in international organisations, law firms and universities. From Saidu Sharif to Turbat and Muzafarabad to Larkana, the exhibition showcased an important repository of history and contributions of female legal professionals.

The organisers had made calls for recommendations of female legal professionals from South Asia and Pakistan in particular, as early as September 2023. Efforts were made to ensure that they reached out to women from urban centres as well as remote areas. Additionally, “who have we missed” posters were put up for visitors to help them connect and reach out to more women.

Starting from the first women – Regina Guha - to challenge the discriminatory definition of ‘persons’ which at that time did not include ‘women’ to the time when the Act for “removal of doubts” regarding women’s eligibility to practice law – the Legal Practitioners (Women) Act of 1923, the wall featuring the historical struggle of women to even be recognised as persons and be allowed to practice law served as a startling starting point for visitors at the gallery.

It was important for the organisers to bring out inspiring stories of resilient women in law within their own settings and context as opposed to having a single standard of ‘success.’ For instance, the exhibition featured some women for whom just completing their law degree was a huge achievement as they did amidst a ban on girls’ education. Another aspect of ensuring diversity and inclusion was in terms of the fields within law such as judiciary, bar, in-house counsel, litigators, office holders, development sector, international law, academia, young lawyers and students.

A special section was created to cover women in niche or pathbreaking areas. This celebrated women working in space law, animal rights, data security, stateless persons, climate change, energy, prosecution, enforced disappearances and minority rights.

The exhibition also featured the AGHS Wall, a tribute to the four founding partners of Pakistan’s first female led law firm established in the 1980s by Asma Jahangir, GulrukhRehman, HinaJillani and Shahla Zia. It also had the profile of their current executive director, Nida Aly.

The exhibition also featured the AGHS Wall displaying images of four founding partners of Pakistan’s first female led law firm established in the 1980s by Asma Jahangir, Gulrukh Rehman, Hina Jillani and Shahla Zia.

The exhibition was part of Women in Law Initiative-Pakistan’s broader campaign titled #VisibilityMatters that kicked off in the year 2024 with the release of a tabletop Calendar of Firsts featuring 12 trailblazing women who had made history to be the first in their roles in the justice sector. The idea behind the exhibition was to build on that campaign and provide an answer to an ignorant myth about a lack of qualified women in the justice sector worthy of being considered for appointments in leadership roles.

Taking inspiration from the 100 years celebrations in the UK and in South Africa, the effort here was to trace the progress and raise awareness around the work and diversity of female legal professionals in the 100 years in the subcontinent and particularly in Pakistan because visibility matters. It matters because, as the closing day guest of honour, Honourable Justice Mrs Ayesha A Malik said in her address: “You cannot include what you cannot see.”

In a perfect world, the 100 years milestone should have been marked institutionally i.e. by the bar councils and other bodies, but such is the state of erasure and ignorance around women’s contributions and existence in the field that one did not even see as much as an official or institutional statement about it.

With this exhibition, the Women in Law-Pakistan wanted to make the point that there have been and in fact are many women in justice sector doing wonderful work in various spheres if only they would be willing to see. The 200 + list of those who have been featured is by no means exhaustive. It should be seen as the start of a process of compilation of such a repository that can showcase the tremendous, niche and diverse work that women are pursuing in law. The initiative looks forward to continue the process of collection of profiles and find ways to feature women in additional categories in subsequent phases of the visibility matters campaign. They hope to develop and take this endeavour further and showcase it in other cities as well.

The event was attended by 500+ participants from all parts of the country including Quetta, Peshawar, Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore. Among others the visitors included Justice Nasira Javed Iqbal (retired), Salima Hashmi, Nayer Ali Dada, Nasrene Rehman, Nighat Said Khan, Mary James Gill, Nighat Dad, Bushra Qamar, Rabbiya Bajwa (a former Lahore High Court Bar Association vice president), Sabahat Rizvi (a former LHCBA secretary), Muhammad Ahmad Pansota, Usama Malik (the Directorate of Legal Education director), Syed Muaz Shah, delegations from schools, civil society networks, representatives from High Commissions/ Embassies of the Netherlands, Denmark and Canada, representatives from Prime Minister’s Youth Programme and prominent members of the bar and judiciary.

The writer is the founder of Women in Law Initiative Pakistan. She tweets at @NidaUsmanCh