Biography
Nida Usman Chaudhary is the founder of Women in Law Initiative Pakistan. She is a diversity and inclusion policy advocate who has worked on legislative amendments in key laws on gender and child rights in Pakistan, curated the historic action on increasing women’s representation in law in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Law and Justice and works to promote, celebrate and facilitate women in the legal profession in Pakistan. Her research involves looking at legal profession with a gender lens and identifying structural and invisible barriers that hinder women’s access and advancement in law.
The legal profession and its senior positions must be reflective of the diversity in society and must fairly represent all marginalised groups so that their lived experiences and unique perspectives can find a place in the process of justice. This will only enrich the jurisprudence that ensues and build trust in the justice sector. That is why systemic barriers that hold women and other groups back must be removed and their representation be ensured. In this regard, organisations and initiatives like the women in law initiative can play a central role.