Are there women judges in egypt

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Delete Cancel Save. Cancel Save. View Expanded. View Table. View Full Size. The swearing-in came months after President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi asked for women to join the State Council and the Public Prosecution, the two judicial bodies that until recently were exclusively male. Some of the judges said they were happy that the dreams of earlier generations of women had finally come true.

It is a dream for us and for past generations as well," said Radwa Helmy, one of the newly sworn-in justices. Established in , the State Council is an independent judicial body that mainly handles administrative disputes, disciplinary cases and appeals. Karsoua said the decision is an implementation of Sisi's directives, adding that the new judges will have the same tasks as male judges in achieving justice and settling conflicts in all the council courts.

The State Council, established in , is an independent judicial body that is exclusively competent to adjudicate in administrative disputes, disciplinary cases and appeals, and disputes pertaining to its decisions. Becoming a woman judge is a dream of many Egyptian female law graduates.

Allowing women to be judges is an essential democratic value of equality, a predictor of the rule of law, and a reflection of the impartiality and independence of the judiciary. Further, it is a step towards equality and full citizenship rights for women, and a fight to prove that women are not second-class citizens or less capable of handling judgeships.

In the recent Global Gender Gap report[1], Egypt ranked th out of countries, a very disappointing, unsatisfactory reflection of its civilization, which does not meet the aspirations of its women after having the first female lawyer in [2] and despite women obtaining their rights in political participation prior to other African, Arab, and even some European countries. Female law graduates —including myself- are prevented from applying to judicial positions as their male counterparts despite the fact that women are included in the top 10 graduating students in all Egyptian law schools.

The Constitution of Egypt is replete with articles that explicitly grant women the right to be appointed in all the Judicial Authorities. All these factors are at play despite the fact that the highest religious authority published Fatwas that permits having women judges.

Surprisingly, the most fervent oppositions were, and are still coming from the judiciary itself, despite no explicit prohibition in the laws governing the judiciary.

The latter two are the only entities that female law graduates can apply to. The historical prevention of women from becoming judges is reflected in the very low percentage of Egyptian women judges, currently accounting for only 0.