EGYPT: Egyptian Women's Right to the Judiciary

Anyone who looks at the Egyptian feminist struggle for both the issues of national liberation or for women's issues, such as lacking access to the judiciary, in the beginning of the second decade in the third millennium would wonder. This right was not granted by appointing the first female judge, counselor Tahany Al-Jebali in 2003, or the subsequent appointment of several female judges in many judicial specializations in the period of 2007-2008. Despite the significance of these steps, they do not represent an integrated system that allows women to be promoted to the judiciary, starting with appointment to the state council that up till now is limited to male graduates only.
The state council gave way to the appointment of women in 2007, when they announced the acceptance of a new batch of graduates, both males and females. This was done by an enlightened head of state council at the time. However, the decision clashed with a violent movement opposed to the appointment of women to the council and reflected in the assembly's convening to reject the decision. The council's list of regulations was presented to the supreme constitutional court for interpretation of the word “graduate” and whether it applies to both males and females or just males. The Supreme Court decided “graduate” applied to both females and males. A sub-committee was formed to look further into appointing women to the council. Before the sub-committee made any decision, its head claimed that it was difficult to appoint women to the council. He blamed the difficulty on the lack of social acceptance for female judges and the spread of Salafi (fundamentalist) ideology in the country and also the poor performance of the female judges. The latter claim was proven false by reports of the judges' performance and testimonies of great judges in Egypt. He also claimed that break areas were not equipped to receive both male and female judges. Recently, the committee issued the decision to defer discussion on the appointment of judges for an indefinite period.

In turn, women's rights organizations organized their efforts and launched a campaign for women's right to the judiciary. The campaign began with a statement defending women's right to be appointed to the state council and a protest was also organized. The work in the campaign, since its formation, has continued vigorously with the use of various advocacy tools including statements, holding meetings, conferences and various events. Also, publications that document women's struggle to gain access to the judiciary and civil society's effort to gain this right for women were published. Moreover, the female graduates who applied for the appointment to the council were invited to apply once more.

The efforts of civil society's activists did not and will not stop until the Egyptian constitution and the international conventions ratified by the Egyptian government are realized. These grant women the right to access senior positions including the judiciary and even take measures that would support women's access to such positions, of which the judiciary is at the forefront.