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Episode Description:

In the first episode of the series Navigating Hostile Environments, Julia is joined by Aaminah Qadir, a human rights lawyer based in Pakistan. Aaminah shares her experiences of working in a male-dominated profession and the systemic resistance faced by women litigators.

“They often call me ‘baby’ in court, not as a romantic gesture, but to belittle me, as if I’m a child who doesn’t belong there. It makes me angry, but I’ve learned to respond firmly and claim my space,” said Aaminah.

She recounts her strategies for maintaining resilience, from humor and delegation to finding solace in reading, walks, and even Korean dramas.

Aaminah also discusses how her organisation, She-her Pakistan, is creating a supportive environment for vulnerable communities and female professionals, emphasising the importance of fair compensation and gender sensitivity.

Listen to this episode to gain powerful insights into the realities of working in patriarchal systems and societies, the need for gender-sensitive legal practices, and the importance of cultivating resilience in the face of systemic inequality.

About the Guests

Aaminah Qadir

Aaminah Qadir is a human rights advocate and constitutional lawyer based in Pakistan. She is the founder of She-her (pronounced shai-her or city in Urdu) Pakistan, a public interest litigation organisation that is dedicated to providing legal representation to vulnerable communities in the country.

Aaminah’s work focuses on empowering victims of domestic violence, religious minorities and the trans community through securing their legal rights. She also works to train members of the judiciary in Pakistan on gender sensitivity and on laws that are enacted to protect women.

Aaminah also focuses on the intersection of climate and gender justice litigation to highlight the disproportionate impact of climate change on women in the global south — an extremely under-studied field in Pakistan. She has completed her undergraduate degree in global affairs and history of art at Yale University and has studied law at the University of Cambridge.

About the Host

Julia Middleton

Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading.

In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.

Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan.

Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.