Dear members of the selection committee,
Throughout my undergraduate years, I engaged deeply with literature on non‑Western societies, particularly pre‑ and post‑colonial South Asia. I was fascinated by how gender recognition evolved across these periods. Before colonial rule, South Asian societies recognized and celebrated gender diversity where transgender individuals held visible social and cultural roles. Colonial governance, however, imposed rigid gender binaries through law and administration, and marginalized gender‑diverse individuals in the postcolonial legal order. This historical shift in gender recognition developed my interest in understanding the importance of gender sensitive approaches in legal practice. The LAWGID programme particularly excites me for its focus on feminist and intersectional approaches in law which offer knowledge to address gender-based violence and discrimination against transgender individuals.
I graduated with an LL.B (Hons) from the XXXXX, where courses in jurisprudence and Islamic law shaped my understanding of how legal systems construct and regulate gender. I became particularly interested in how colonial statutes and interpretations of Islamic jurisprudence have jointly shaped gender norms in South Asia. I observed that both legal traditions often frame gender diversity as deviant, contributing to gender-based violence and discrimination. Their limited engagement with feminist and intersectional perspectives continues to produce gender-blind legislation and legal practice.
To explore the implications of these patriarchal laws in legal practice, I joined the legal clinic at the XXXXX. My work focused on providing legal assistance to transgender individuals in gender marker correction procedures. Engaging with their prolonged struggles for identity and the afterlives of legal recognition in Pakistan significantly shaped my research direction. I wrote term paper titled "XXXXX" Drawing on Kimberlé Crenshaw's framework of intersectionality, my work analyzed how the culture, class and religion as three axes of power intersect to produce gender based intersectional discrimination against transgender people.
After graduation, I began working as a Legal Associate at a law firm in XXXXXX. In this role I saw firsthand how legal practice often stays detached from gender mainstreaming. In both litigation and judiciary, gender-based violence and discrimination are normally addressed in isolation, without accounting for intersecting social, cultural, and economic factors. As a result, legal assistance does not provide adequate remedy and fails to address intersectional GBV and discrimination. This gap in legal practice has made it clear to me that I need to deepen my understanding of intersectionality and feminist legal approaches, not only to strengthen legal argumentation but also to contribute to more inclusive and gender-sensitive legal processes.
The LAWGID program's curriculum directly addresses the gaps I have confronted in both my research and legal practice. In the first semester at the University of Belgrade, the Methodology and Practical Skills course will allow me to understand how transgender identity is constructed and defined within legal systems, a question my term paper raised but could not fully address without methodological rigour. By engaging with ontological and epistemological approaches to how knowledge about gender is produced, I aim to conduct research on Subaltern Trans Ontologies. This research is essential to understanding why Pakistani law continues to treat gender diversity as deviant. The course Feminist Political and Legal Theories will allow me to evaluate whether feminist legal thought has integrated intersectional and diversity perspectives, or if it remains constrained by binary gender frameworks that discriminate transgender people. In the second semester at LUMSA, the emphasis on integrating intersectional and diversity perspectives across public and private law will enable me to address issues of social justice, freedom and right to private and family life, which transgender individuals face every day. In the third semester at Örebro University, the Gender Diversity Law course aligns with my research focus, as it examines how law has historically regulated and currently addresses the status of transgender and gender-diverse individuals.
I look forward to joining the Gender Equality Legal Clinic to work on real case studies under the supervision of professors at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, for building practical skills to provide gender-sensitive legal support and critically engage with structural inequalities. Upon completing LAWGID program, I aim to bring feminist and intersectional approach directly into my advocacy practice to address gender-based violence and discrimination against transgender individuals in Pakistan and contribute to gender transformative legislation in my country.
Throughout my undergraduate years, I engaged deeply with literature on non‑Western societies, particularly pre‑ and post‑colonial South Asia. I was fascinated by how gender recognition evolved across these periods. Before colonial rule, South Asian societies recognized and celebrated gender diversity where transgender individuals held visible social and cultural roles. Colonial governance, however, imposed rigid gender binaries through law and administration, and marginalized gender‑diverse individuals in the postcolonial legal order. This historical shift in gender recognition developed my interest in understanding the importance of gender sensitive approaches in legal practice. The LAWGID programme particularly excites me for its focus on feminist and intersectional approaches in law which offer knowledge to address gender-based violence and discrimination against transgender individuals.
I graduated with an LL.B (Hons) from the XXXXX, where courses in jurisprudence and Islamic law shaped my understanding of how legal systems construct and regulate gender. I became particularly interested in how colonial statutes and interpretations of Islamic jurisprudence have jointly shaped gender norms in South Asia. I observed that both legal traditions often frame gender diversity as deviant, contributing to gender-based violence and discrimination. Their limited engagement with feminist and intersectional perspectives continues to produce gender-blind legislation and legal practice.
To explore the implications of these patriarchal laws in legal practice, I joined the legal clinic at the XXXXX. My work focused on providing legal assistance to transgender individuals in gender marker correction procedures. Engaging with their prolonged struggles for identity and the afterlives of legal recognition in Pakistan significantly shaped my research direction. I wrote term paper titled "XXXXX" Drawing on Kimberlé Crenshaw's framework of intersectionality, my work analyzed how the culture, class and religion as three axes of power intersect to produce gender based intersectional discrimination against transgender people.
After graduation, I began working as a Legal Associate at a law firm in XXXXXX. In this role I saw firsthand how legal practice often stays detached from gender mainstreaming. In both litigation and judiciary, gender-based violence and discrimination are normally addressed in isolation, without accounting for intersecting social, cultural, and economic factors. As a result, legal assistance does not provide adequate remedy and fails to address intersectional GBV and discrimination. This gap in legal practice has made it clear to me that I need to deepen my understanding of intersectionality and feminist legal approaches, not only to strengthen legal argumentation but also to contribute to more inclusive and gender-sensitive legal processes.
The LAWGID program's curriculum directly addresses the gaps I have confronted in both my research and legal practice. In the first semester at the University of Belgrade, the Methodology and Practical Skills course will allow me to understand how transgender identity is constructed and defined within legal systems, a question my term paper raised but could not fully address without methodological rigour. By engaging with ontological and epistemological approaches to how knowledge about gender is produced, I aim to conduct research on Subaltern Trans Ontologies. This research is essential to understanding why Pakistani law continues to treat gender diversity as deviant. The course Feminist Political and Legal Theories will allow me to evaluate whether feminist legal thought has integrated intersectional and diversity perspectives, or if it remains constrained by binary gender frameworks that discriminate transgender people. In the second semester at LUMSA, the emphasis on integrating intersectional and diversity perspectives across public and private law will enable me to address issues of social justice, freedom and right to private and family life, which transgender individuals face every day. In the third semester at Örebro University, the Gender Diversity Law course aligns with my research focus, as it examines how law has historically regulated and currently addresses the status of transgender and gender-diverse individuals.
I look forward to joining the Gender Equality Legal Clinic to work on real case studies under the supervision of professors at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, for building practical skills to provide gender-sensitive legal support and critically engage with structural inequalities. Upon completing LAWGID program, I aim to bring feminist and intersectional approach directly into my advocacy practice to address gender-based violence and discrimination against transgender individuals in Pakistan and contribute to gender transformative legislation in my country.
