Stephenson Harwood’s Dubai office managing partner has spoken out on the “pressure” facing female lawyers and received support from the legal community for expressing honesty and vulnerability.
Rania Tadros, a shipping lawyer who has spearhead the firm’s Dubai office since 2022, wrote in a post on LinkedIn following IWD and Mother’s Day this month:
“You’d be forgiven for thinking I am all joy this IWD and Mother’s Day but in between the positive posts I also feel the need to declare that actually I have a heavy heart. The pressure on female lawyers and in particular the guilt that many mothers feel has been at the forefront of legal news for all the wrong reasons.”
Continuing, Tadros said: “I’ve thought about it a lot. More than the smiles on social media would reveal. I’ve thought about my own guilt and imposter syndrome and how I associate with the struggle even though I love what I do—the lawyer part, the managing partner part, the mother, the wife, the daughter, the sister, the friend, the me!”
Tadros concluded by stating that although she doesn’t know how to achieve the balance, she knows that she must try. “That starts with a pledge to listen more, to judge less, to consult more and to declare (hence this post) my commitment to support all those feeling that sometimes the juggle is too hard,” she said. “There is a way, it requires compromise, team work, empathy and understanding.”
Speaking to Law Middle East, Tadros explained why she went public with her post. “When I wrote the post I cannot say that I hoped to achieve anything other than to express my own feelings and guilt in the hope that others would recognise that it is okay to have these feelings and still love what you do and do it well.”
“In the weeks leading up to my post there had been a lot of media attention which focused on mental wellbeing of employees who worked within the legal and professional services industries and the pressures that employees face in the modern day world where they try to strike the balance of work and home pressures and demands. It made me reflect on my own choices and on others within the firm who I knew were currently working extremely hard, often at the expense of time with their family and friends.”
The mother-of-two, who moved to Dubai from London over a decade ago, spoke of her “guilt” at choosing her career and lifestyle in Dubai over moving with her son, who is due to start university in the UK. “The rest of the family are in Dubai, mainly to support me doing the job I love in Dubai—but I felt guilty that I chose my job and my lifestyle in Dubai over moving with my son to the UK,” she said.
Tadros said she has since received a lot of support from the legal community following the post, with many recognising the difficulty of the “juggle”.
“Many have commented on my honesty and ability to express vulnerability,” she said. “The latter made me think that it is relatively easy for me in my senior position to be vulnerable but where are the posts from more junior members of the firm about how they feel?”
Moving forward, the managing partner said she hopes to encourage other leaders to permit more junior members to feel vulnerable and to listen to what they think the solution might be. “For me the solution has been a great support network through my husband and parents as well as the knowledge that I have a choice to work the way I do and I do so because that is what gives me joy and satisfaction,” she said. “That said, this is not everybody’s solution and what’s important is that everyone is given the tools and environment to find their balance.”
