Yesterday was International Women’s Day and on the occasion of that day this year, I want to salute two specific Egyptian women who stood against establishments to see Egyptian women as judges at the Egyptian State Council at last in March 2022.
The famous presidential decree 446/98 issued last year to appoint 98 women judges to the State Council on the Egyptian Judiciary Day after long rejection from the council comes at the tip of an iceberg of a long struggle led by courageous Egyptian women against all odds.
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| An Egyptian woman judge on the panel at State Council on Saturday in Cairo "Mohamed Lotfy" |
First, Egypt’s State Council is in charge of handling administrative disputes and appeals as well as reviewing draft laws.
Second, here is the story of two women in two centuries with one cause.
The first woman is Egypt’s first Ambassador and ex-Minister late Dr Aisha Rateb who started that gender struggle in the year 1949 at the Faculty of Law, Cairo University aka in academic
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| A-1949 news clipping about Ms Aisha Rateb , the teaching assistant without a job at the Faculty of law |
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| Older Aisha Rateb in the 1980s |
Aisha Rateb applied then on the State Council or as commonly in French then in Egypt “Conseil d’ Etat” but she was rejected due to her gender in 1952.
She sued the government on the grounds that her constitutional rights were violated but she lost. During then late PM Hussein Serry Pasha stated that she could not be a judge in the state council because it was against the society’s traditions.
The legendary father of Arab Constitutions and the Head of State Council then Abdel Razzak El-Sanhuri stated explicitly that the Egyptian constitution and the Islamic Sharia did not oppose having a woman judge in the State Council but the politics and the society’s traditions were the reason.
Fast forward to the 21st century, Women began to become judges.
In 2003, late lawyer Tahani al-Gebali was appointed as the first woman judge in the Supreme Constitutional court by Ex-President Mubarak.
In 2007, 32 other women began to be appointed as judges in various posts but not in the All-Men-Only club aka State Council.
Then we jump to 2014 when Omina Gadalla, a graduate of Al-Azhar University’s Faculty law “Second top of her class” applied to join the State Council but her request was denied as usual due to her gender.
Already in the same year, a new constitution was adopted and it stipulated in its 11th article that “The State shall also guarantee women’s right 8 of holding public and senior management offices in the State and their appointment in judicial bodies and authorities without discrimination.”
The young fresh graduate did not give up and sued the State Council in the same year in front of the Administrative Court for discrimination against women.
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| Dr Omnia Gadalla |
In 2016, Gadalla filed another lawsuit in front of the Administrative Court to challenge the Constitutional status of the State Council’s law regarding gender bias.
She lost the two lawsuits in front of the Administrative court.
Omina Gadalla did not stop, she continue in her academic career as well as her activism as she launched in 2018 an initiative called “Her Honor, setting the bar” along with her younger sister Nada.
In January 2021, the teaching assistant at Al-Azhar University’s Faculty of Law appealed the Administrative Court’s ruling to reject her lawsuit against the State Council in 2020 in front of the High Administrative Court.
Then in October 2021, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued the presidential decree “446/98” to appoint 98 women judges to the State Council on Egyptian Judiciary Day.
Days following the decree, 98 women were sworn in as judges at the State Council.
On Saturday, those 98 women judges started their work at the State Council.
Despite the media celebrating this achievement as a milestone by the Egyptian state, it ignores as usual the two ladies that paved the way for those 98 women on the panel
Some men do not like it
Some Men are still rejecting the matter allegedly for religious reasons but I would like to hint out that in May 2021 during the Holy Month of Ramadan, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyeb said that women can be judges along with othes rights like travelling alone and the right of women to receive part of her ex-husband’s wealth if she contributed to this wealth. “Yes, he said all that in May 2021 but no one watches his show”
Men can go discuss this with Ahmed El-Tayyeb.
For those who do not know, El-Tayyeb heads Egypt and the world's biggest and most influential Sunni institution aka Al-Azhar.
They can go and discuss with him why they think women should not be judges at this time.
On the other hand, I pray those women judges set a positive example for other women as well as a positive example for judges when it comes to the independence of the judiciary and integrity as well as wisdom.
Happy IWS2022 to all the ladies around the globe.
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