Being a Muslim Arab Woman in the Legal Profession: Closed Doors and Closed Minds

There is a quote: “How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.” I believe this principle is true of self-respect as well, that how you value yourself is how you teach others to value you.

While this is generally true, unfortunately there are still those individuals who choose to look down on others who are different from them. No matter how well you know your worth, their own biases and prejudices will cloud their judgement of you – you cannot change them, but you can choose to never work for them. That choice may be one of the most important decisions a young professional of an equity-seeking group has to make.

In honour of International Women’s Day 2025, I am reflecting on questions that students entering the profession have asked of me. As a visibly Muslim Arab woman, I had not really known any lawyers prior to law school, and certainly none who looked like me. It occurred to me at the time, as it still does, that entering a profession with so few people who share my identity will not be without its challenges.

Many women of colour, and people of equity-seeking backgrounds, look at this profession and wonder: Is there a place for me here? And even, how can I find a workplace that will not see my differences as an issue?

The question itself must be addressed. While it is unfortunately a valid concern, these fears can sometimes blur the line between seeking acceptance and settling for mere tolerance.

If there is doubt about whether you will have to water yourself down to be more palatable to the culture of a work environment— where that culture is built on the exclusion of equity seeking groups— perhaps you are better off excluded from those spaces. If there are doors purposely closed off to you and the people who are like you, consider it a blessing in disguise. Afterall, it is not every day that the wrong decision is conveniently ruled out for you.

For anyone whose differences are the first and only thing people see in us, who look at all the closed doors and wonder, where can I go? Just know, there are places out there where the doors are wide open to you. These are the places that will honour your differences while still seeing you as more than just a sum of what makes you other.

At the end of the day, the legal profession offers a service to society, and your differences— the languages we speak and cultures we have knowledge of— can be invaluable in a society as diverse as ours. Law firms that fail to respond accordingly to the diverse needs of the communities they serve will be at a disadvantage. One they may not even realize they are heading towards until it is too late.

As most women already know, you do not need to raise your voice to be heard; you only need to go where your voice is deserved.