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Boosting Arab women's legal participation
Scores of legal professionals from 16 Arab countries will conclude today their discussions on how to enhance women's participation in the formulation of laws.
- By Jumana Al Tamimi, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 00:00 February 18, 2004
Scores of legal professionals from 16 Arab countries will conclude today their discussions on how to enhance women's participation in the formulation of laws.
"The importance of this meeting stems from the relations that would be built up and knitted among Arab women working in the legal field," said Reem Abu-Hassan, a Jordanian lawyer.
"There might be differences in the legal systems (among Arab countries), but at the end, our goals are one, and the challenges we are face are the same," she told Gulf News.
Entitled Women and the Law - A Regional Dialogue Supporting Voice of Change, the three-day workshop focuses on three major areas: woman and the judiciary, regional judicial development practices in the region, and human rights and equality.
Participants emphasised that Islamic doctrine does not forbid woman from reaching high positions in the legal field.
Participants, many of whom shared their experiences with their associates, also said women themselves have to fight for their advancement. The greater the number of female lawyers in their societies, the higher the chances of society granting acceptance to women entering the legal field and ascending to high positions, they told Gulf News in separate interviews.
In some societies, people are not accustomed to seeing women working as lawyers, said Shurooq Zainal, a trainee lawyer in Dubai Courts. "It was something strange for people to see female lawyers following up issues in ministries and police stations. But now people are getting used to it."
Still, certain social norms continue to obstruct women's path to high positions in the legal field. In some countries, such as Kuwait, where women constitute nearly one-fourth of the 800 registered lawyers, female lawyers hope women will occupy such positions in the future, in spite of the election law, which does not allow women to vote or run for elections.
The obstacles are "not legal", said Kawthar Aljouan, Lawyer and Director of Women Development and Training Institute in Kuwait. "The law does not stipulate that women are not allowed to reach higher positions," she said. "But it might be because of certain social traditions."
Tagreed Hikmat, who became in 1996 the first female judge in Jordan, and who also became last year the first Arab woman to be appointed to the International Tribunal for Rwanda, concurred.
"There are some social obstacles blocking the way of women from reaching judicial positions. But sometimes, the woman herself also hinders her own advancement. Part of it is personal incentive," she said.
"Any change in the status of women in our country or in other Arab countries to reach a new position always needs a political decision."
Currently, there are 19 women judges serving in Jordan, and officials express confidence that their number will increase in the near future. Moreover, there are 1,050 practicing female lawyers registered with the Jordanian Bar Association.
The importance of occupying seats in the judiciary or parliament lies in the fact that women would be partners in framing the laws relating to women and society in general, the lawyers said.
Meanwhile, some western lawyers stressed that the obstacles Arab women face are similar to those faced by their Western counterparts in the past.
"I had a very difficult time getting a job as a lawyer in the 1960s, so it is all a gradual process," said Evelyn Lance, a former judge in the Family Court of the First Circuit in Hawaii.
But conferences, like the one in Amman, help women share their experiences and take the necessary steps for their betterment, she said in an interview on the sidelines of the workshop.
"I think our goal from the conference is to talk about what the real obstacles are to increase participation of women in the legal system and the steps that need to be taken for individual countries and on regional basis," she said.
The workshop was organised by the Jordanian government, the United States Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), and the American Bar Association.
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