The Women in Law forum was organized by Villa College in collaboration with the Bar Council of the Maldives Bar. This Forum on Women Lawyers aims to bring together legal professionals from all walks of life in the Maldives, to share their lived experiences of successes, challenges, and to generate insights and innovative solutions to fostering equal opportunities and equality for women, under the umbrella of this year’s theme ‘Invest in Women – Accelerate Progress’, focusing on the fifth sustainable development goal of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls by 2030.

A women lawyers’ forum is very important in the current context of the Maldives where, although women are equally competent in terms of higher education, they can be tremendously disadvantaged at work, and face bias, discrimination, and harassment on a daily basis. Over the last decade there have been huge strides towards gender equality, but there is still a lot more to be done in the country, and a lot more that cannot be achieved unless certain system changes are made immediately.

The first session of the forum focused on why investing in women is key to accelerating gender equality and sustainable national development. This session consisted of: Uza. Mizna Ahmed, VP, Bar Council of the Maldives, Uza. Noorbaan Fahmy, COO, Stock Exchange Maldives, Uza. Iffa Ashraf, Secretary General, Mission for Migrant Workers and Dr. Marium Jabyn, Chairperson, ERI (Secretary General, Bar Council of the Maldives) ; the session was moderated by Uza. Yasmeen Shamaal, Director of Programmes, BCM.

The second session reflected on thought-provoking discussions as a panel of history-making women in law in the Maldives explores the challenges facing women and how they overcome these hurdles, and how we can inspire and retain more women into the world of decision-making in the legal profession. This session consisted of highly decorated individuals in the legal profession including: Uza. Mariya Ahmed Didi, First Female Lawyer, Maldives, Honorable Justice Aisha Shujune Muhammad, Supreme Court of the Republic of the Maldives And Usa. Hisaan Hussain, JSC President.

Apart from bringing together a diverse group of women leaders, the forum had one distinctive Podcast for aspiring lawyers titled “The future of the Law’’, which was a ‘never-before’ opportunity to learn and deliberate, both for those who are in the industry and those aspiring to join in the future. The podcast featured our Faculty of Shariah and Law lecturer and Villa College Law Society Executive Advisor Mr. Amish Abdullah and our Bachelor of Shariah and Law student Ms. Aminath Anaan Binthi Ashraf reflecting and deliberating on the issues and challenges faced by the female aspiring lawyers encompassing a gender neutral approach as well. The forum also emphasized on why supporting women is integral to the issue of women’s equality, and that it always starts with listening and networking.