LocationsWomen Leading Change in Law through the EU-UNDP Partnership
By Amna Karim | Visibility Analyst, UNDP Pakistan
Through the European Union-supported Deliver Justice Project, UNDP helped Advocate Shumaila Zaib return to law, creating pathways for other women lawyers and expanding access to justice.
In Pakistan, a visit to a court often means being guided by staff, represented by a lawyer, and heard by a judge who will most likely have one thing in common: they will all be men. A woman lawyer from Buner is trying to flip that script.
Hailing from a tribe where even men weren’t ‘allowed’ to pursue higher studies, Advocate Shumaila Zaib defied the norms and became the first woman lawyer in her family. She credits this defiance to her mother, who always wanted to study, but the denial of this right never stopped her from standing up for the women around her, including her daughter.
With that milestone achieved, Shumaila believed that she had won her hardest battle, but the glaring absence of women in courts that awaited her after graduation became her Mount Everest.
In 2024, the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan reported that women accounted for only 17 percent of lawyers in the country. From social barriers, such as the perception that ‘good’ women do not belong in katcheris (courts), to workplaces that fail to provide culturally sensitive, safe, and gender-responsive spaces, women’s legal careers in Pakistan often come to a halt even before they begin. Those who manage to enter the profession face pay inequality, limited mentorship, and few growth opportunities, making it difficult to sustain a career.
Despite her passion for legal practice, Shumaila eventually had to leave it behind.
Her journey to empower women, however, did not end there. She took up teaching girls in Darra Adam Khel and, over time, even began to enjoy it. “Deep down, it always felt like something was missing. I always knew that I could do so much more than just teach.”
Then came an opportunity to return to the path she thought she had left behind. In 2024, Advocate Shumaila participated in a UNDP training of trainers on representing vulnerable people under the European Union-funded ‘Deliver Justice Project’. Through this initiative, UNDP trained over 500 women lawyers across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Islamabad to shape a more survivor-centric justice system.
“By the end of the last day of the training, I realized that I cannot stop—not now, not ever! I owed it to the women of my tribe. I owed it to the little girls who looked up to me.” The training reignited her determination to champion justice. But this time she also had a plan.
In 2025, under the same EU-funded initiative with UNDP, Advocate Shumaila became a trainer and trained women lawyers across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Islamabad, strengthening their capacity to represent marginalized people. These women lawyers went on to train others, creating a ripple effect.
“Combining my passion to stand up for those who can't for themselves and my love for teaching gave me a new, more rewarding path.” Continuing this path less trodden, Advocate Shumaila not only resumed her own legal practice but also started mentoring other young women lawyers to do the same.
Slowly and gradually, in just a year and a half, Advocate Shumaila has successfully laid the foundation for a network of young legal professionals from across the country, with the majority of them being women. Its community on WhatsApp, ‘Incubation Room for Legal Fraternity’, now has over 170 members. The mentors include former judges, seasoned lawyers, civil servants, and academics who volunteer to bridge the guidance gap that keeps many lawyers from making informed career decisions.
The network focuses on developing the capacity of legal professionals, especially women who couldn’t continue their practice for one reason or the other, and provides a platform to share opportunities for work and refer cases, including pro bono cases, particularly those involving vulnerable people.
“We, the women, have not come so far to quit. This was the sole purpose of building this platform, so that I could help all those women who defied so many odds to get here and who now feel lost and deprived of opportunities or incentives to be in courts, find reasons to continue their beautiful journey of defiance in a world that gives them all the reasons not to.”
So far, Advocate Shumaila has helped over 15 women lawyers resume their legal practice. These women have gone on to provide pro bono services and bridge the gap between people and justice.
In doing so, Advocate Shumaila is taking on the dire underrepresentation of women in law, while helping reshape how marginalized people, especially women, children, persons with disabilities, and gender-based violence survivors, access justice in the country.
The journey that started with defying the expectations placed on one woman is now creating a path for many more to follow.