Reem Leila reports on the swearing in of Egypt's first ever female judges The oath was delivered by 30 newly-appointed female judges, in front of Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Chairman Mokbel Shaker last week. One remaining appointee, Doaa Emad, had passed all the oral and written exams, but declined the post for personal reasons. The group had already started working in the Cairo, Giza and Alexandria preliminary courts earlier this month, according to the presidential decree issued on 2 April. Prior to the newly-appointed group, the only sitting female judge had been Tahani El-Gibali, who was appointed to the High Constitutional Court in 2003 by a presidential decree. According to Shaker, appointing this batch of female judges is a welcome step towards ending discrimination against women in the judiciary. The government's previous exclusion of women from the bench was not codified in Egyptian law, and the change in policy brings Egypt closer to compliance with anti-discrimination provisions in international law and constitutional guarantees of equality of opportunity to all Egyptians. Egypt now joins Sudan, Tunisia and Morocco as the only Arab countries to appoint women to the judiciary. Newly appointed Judge Hanan Shaarawy said that although she has already achieved a historic breakthrough for women in Egypt, she still dreams of the day when a woman cab becomes a governor or a municipality head. "Our respected judges eventually realised how vital it is to have women judges in our society," noted Shaarawy, adding that it denotes that Egyptian women are suffering far less discrimination today. "Our appointment shows that our leadership respects people for what they are," she asserted. Shaarawy is optimistic that society will soon witness increasing support for women's rights. Shaker noted that in the past the SJC, which is the government body tasked with appointing judges, summarily rejected female applicants to the criminal department of the public prosecutor's office from which most junior judges are chosen. In some cases, the council explicitly cited the applicant's gender as the reason for the rejection. "This has changed now, and women can reach the highest judiciary positions," he added. The appointment of women to the bench is the result of a long- standing campaign by a broad range of civil society groups. Some senior judges wanted to exclude women from these positions on the grounds that they would have to spend time alone with men. "The appointment of female judges sends a strong message about including women's voices in the judicial process," stressed Fawzeya Abdel-Sattar, law professor at Cairo University. "This is a positive step, but it shouldn't be the last." Abdel-Sattar warned that female judges should not be solely relegated to certain types of courts, such as family courts, and that there is no discrimination in the selection or training of these judges. She noted that for this decision to have real bearing, "the government must now follow up by removing other barriers facing women at all levels of the judiciary." SJC Chair Shaker selected the judges from a pool of state prosecutors who had passed a test for the positions, although it is unclear to which courts the women will be assigned. The move marks the first time women have been named to preside over criminal or civil cases. According to Abdel-Sattar, the government should also apply objective and clear procedures for the appointment of judges, in line with international standards outlined in the UNs' Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary. According to these principles, justice can be maintained to achieve international cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, without any discrimination.
