Meet Arwa Al-Hujaili: Saudi Arabia's first female lawyer

Arwa Al-Hujaili begins her legal career, she has not only her own expectations to live up to, but those of a generation: she has just become Saudi Arabia's first female lawyer.

After three years of petitioning the Ministry of Justice, Al-Hujaili, 25, has finally received her registration to practice as a trainee lawyer, the first woman to do so.

"People tell me I'm a pioneer and I feel I need to live up to what they expect of me," says Al-Hujaili. "There's a great sense of responsibility. From now on, people will look at everything I do."

Al-Hujaili, who decided on a legal career while preparing for university, graduated from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah in 2010 and expected to be able to practice as a lawyer immediately.

But much to her frustration, she has spent three years in a professional no-man's land, able to work as "legal consultant" but not officially recognized as a lawyer

Universities in Saudi Arabia began taking female law students in 2005 and the first graduates completed their studies in 2008. But the optimism soon wore off when female graduates found themselves unable to gain registration to practice.

Many of Al-Hujaili's classmates, frustrated by the lack of progress in Saudi Arabia, left the country to work abroad. But Al-Hujaili stayed in her hometown of Jeddah and continued to apply for registration.

In the meantime, some of her contemporaries began an online campaign to push for change, including a Facebook group called "I am a lawyer," a Twitter campaign and YouTube videos from women arguing their right to practice.

source: cnn