DOHA: Qatari women lawyers are making waves, but for a vast majority of them, taking up criminal cases involving molestation or murder, for instance, is still a taboo.
“We have come a long way since we began practising. There were no women lawyers in the Qatari community until a decade ago, as no woman could even dream of entering the legal profession,” says a women legal practitioner.
Until 15 years ago, the situation of Qatari women was such that those of them wanting to drive needed approval from a court and permission from the interior ministry to apply for a driver’s licence, said Zeinab Mohamed.
Zeinab is one of an estimated 30 to 35 Qatari women lawyers, who make up roughly a quarter of all the Qatari lawyers, and their number is growing steadily.
But barely two or three of the women lawyers handle criminal cases, while the others are happy dealing with what are mostly family disputes and divorce and child custody cases. Zeinab, though, handles cases of bounced cheques as well.
She told The Peninsula yesterday: “I, in fact, have a cheque case lined up for hearing tomorrow (today)”.
Men generally fight shy of approaching women lawyers to take up their cases, she said. “It’s, therefore, mostly women who come to us with cases like divorce, compensation, child custody and bounced cheques, among others.”
Zeinab said she showed courage and once took up the case of a man who was critically injured after being hit in a road accident. “I was really scared. That was the first such case in my career which I had accepted, and demanded for my client a compensation of QR100,000.”
“I won the case and that gave me immense confidence,” said Zeinab, who has been practising since 2010. She said most Qatari women law graduates preferred to take up jobs, and estimated that currently there could be 100 such graduates employed in various government departments.
Zeinab is married and has children. “Life is tough, as I am busy almost the whole day and get to see my husband and children only on weekends.”
She said she was in the courts in the mornings on working days and then, from 5pm to 8pm, she was in her office.
“People in our community have gradually begun accepting us, but there still are some families that do not allow their women to enter the legal profession or even take up jobs,” she said, when asked how women lawyers were looked upon in the community.
The legal profession is generally considered a male domain. “But things are changing now as people are getting gradually convinced that women can take on roles that have long been the sole preserve of men.”
THE PENINSULA
