What if your dream is to practice law but, arriving in England as a teenager, you have had no formal education and cannot understand, read nor write English? What if your cultural influences to date have suggested that you cannot, should not, pursue law as a career. Is that an insurmountable barrier? Not for Hameeda Hussani. That is exactly the situation she found herself in when, arriving in Peterborough at the age of 13, she set out on a journey which is nothing short of inspirational…
EDI FOCUS
AN INTERVIEW WITH…
I
n the next in our series of interviews focussing on equality, diversity and inclusion (“EDI”) within the Cambridgeshire legal community, Hameeda Hussani, a paralegal with Birketts, provides an incredibly moving account of why her background and difference is not a weakness but a strength which is enabling her to forge a path towards a fulfilling career in the law.
What was your motivation to study law? Law has always appealed to me, especially after experiencing and witnessing injustice, inhuman treatment and inequality between men and women. I was always very interested in how the law changes someone’s life and I wanted to be part of that change. No one from my family, extended family or community studied law because most of them (if they had had an opportunity to study) were encouraged to study a subject where a job was guaranteed at the end. Initially, I had applied to university to study nursing and I worked in a care home for a number of years to build up my skills because nursing was the subject that everyone, including myself, could see me doing. Just before starting my degree in nursing, I knew that it was not for me and my real passion was to study law. I was always told that as an Afghan Muslim female I would not be able to have a career in law even if I did hold a law degree because I would not be able to secure a job. I would say that my background and difference is not my weakness but a strength.
HAMEEDA HUSSANI OF BIRKETTS 12 | www.cambslawsoc.co.uk
Law is not an option for many girls like me. It is not because they cannot do it; it is because they are never told that they can do it or that it is a good career choice for an ethnic minority woman.
