OUR STORY

The Association of Women Lawyers was founded in Malaysia in 1983 by a group of women lawyers: Dato’ Noor Farida Ariffin; Tan Sri Dato Seri Siti Norma Yaacob; Dato’ Ambiga Sreenivasan; and Chen Kah Leng; who recognised that the Malaysian legal profession needed a dedicated voice for gender equality and women's rights.

Subsequent to those early trail-blazing years, AWL, under the unfortunate moniker of FOWL (Federation of Women Lawyers, Malaysia), stagnated resulting in a decline of its significance for well over a decade.

 

AWL subsequently  went through a process of renewal and reinvention.

 

Since then, in the last three decades AWL has grown into one of Malaysia's foremost women's legal advocacy organisations, with an active membership drawn from across the Bar, the corporate sector, the judiciary, academia, and civil society.

We have been involved in significant legal reforms affecting women and children in Malaysia, from the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022 (Act 840) to the Sexual Offences Against Children Act2017 (Act 792); from advocacy on citizenship rights to campaigns to end child marriage.

 

Under the AWL banner, our members have appeared before Parliament,; argued landmark cases in the Federal Court and represented Malaysia on international human rights platforms.

We remain, as we have always been, committed to the belief that law is one of the most powerful tools for justice, and that women lawyers are essential to wielding it well.