The role of women Lawyers in decision-making in countries

Moroccan Association of Women Judges (AMFJ) as a model

The feminist struggle is one of the most notable forms of feminist solidarity; rather, it is the mainstay and the ideal embodiment of it. Women have looked beyond the main idea, that they have been advocating throughout history, that represented in a human rights movement demanding the freedom of women and their equality with men to a more general and comprehensive concept to include the advocacy for Economic and Social Rights.

The feminist solidarity has spread around the world, with the support of the United Nations, and is embodied in a global women’s struggle movement that brings the movements and organizations together to struggle to eliminate the causes of poverty and violence against women, as well as to eliminate all forms of inequality and discrimination against women.

In this sense, the feminist solidarity managed to go beyond the borders, by which women were able to make their voices heard at the global level, that she is here and adhere to unit and acts in solidarity with all women to advocate here rights in terms of various economic, social and political fields and so on.

Before addressing the women judge contribution in such a struggle, reference must be made to the first time when the woman admitted to the judicial profession, women admitted to the judicial profession in Morocco early in comparison to the other Arab countries in 1961. The late prof. Amina Ben Abd Razek, is the first Moroccan women judge was appointed, after that she was allowed to admit to the Higher Institute of the Judiciary, but the percentage of women's admission was less than the percentage of men's admission, due to the constraints regarding the place of appointment, which limited to Casablanca and Rabat. This appointment was controlled by the women's status on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the dominant culture at that time in many regions. It was not accepted to see a woman ruling and settling the issues and disputes. It must be noted that, however, the Moroccan women were admitted early to the judicial profession, but the percentage of their representation is still extremely low. By considering the recent statistics carried out by the Ministry of Justice titled (Report on Women in the Justice System) dated 8 March 2021, we noticed that:

 

 

 

 

The Representation of Moroccan women in the judiciary until the end of 2020.

 

Total number of Judges of the Kingdom	Number of Women Judges	Percentage of Women Judges
4216	1051	25%

 

Total number of Judges of the Kingdom	Number of Trial Women Judges	Percentage	The number of Women prosecutors	Percentage
4216	880	21%	171	4%

 The Representation of Women Judges in Positions of Judicial Responsibility.

Total Positions of Judicial Responsibility	Number of The Women Judges in Positions of Judicial Responsibility	Percentage of The Women Judges in Positions of Judicial Responsibility.
217	11	5%

Deployment of Women in Positions of Judicial Responsibility.

Capacity	Premises
King's Public Prosecutor	Fes Commercial Court of Appeal of
Court President	Temara Court of First Instance of
Court President	Souk El-Sabt Awlad El-Nama Court of First Instance
Court President	Azrou Court of First Instance
Court President	Fes Commercial Court
Court President	Marrakesh Administrative Court
King's Prosecutor	Casablanca Civil Court of First Instance
King's Prosecutor	Casablanca Social Court of First Instance
King's Prosecutor	Rabat Commercial Court
King's Prosecutor	Meknes Commercial Court
King's Prosecutor	Oujda Commercial Court

Accordingly, women judges couldn't stay out of this global movement without participating in it. Consequently, it is worthy to talk about the period before the 2011 constitution, when judges did not have the right to establish professional associations; however, owing to the will of the struggling women judges during the nineties, they broke this legal silence and engaged With women’s associations struggling for women’s rights after obtaining permission from the Minister of Justice. In this regard, we mention two Women models, Prof. Al-Hoor Zohour and Prof. Aisha Al-Nasiri, who contributed to the advocacy for women’s rights, equality, children’s rights, and a family model with equal rights. Accordingly, they struggled to amend the Code and participated in all conferences and forums that were held at that time, as well as contributing to the struggle for change the Nationality Law, which gave the right to obtain the Moroccan nationality for children from a Moroccan mother. They also contributed to changing the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure; among its main articles are related to combat violence and punishing all forms of discrimination against women through all platforms, believing in the importance of unity and the solidarity to achieve the goals.

Upon the enactment of 2011 constitution, the Article (111) thereof stipulated the following:

"Judges have the right to freedom of expression in a manner consistent with reservation requirement and judicial ethics. Judges may engage with associations, or establish professional associations, with all due compliance with impartiality and the independence of the judiciary and in accordance with the provisions stipulated by law."

The Moroccan Women judges seized this chance, and as soon as Prof. Aisha Al-Nasiri proposed the idea of ​​establishing an association includes the women judges in Morocco, which were engaged with the associative work by virtue of being among the women judges who practiced the associative work in the nineties, she found a strong respond and presence of the women judges in her home immediately. The Moroccan Association of Women Judges (AMFJ) was established in October 2011, which is deemed the first professional association in Morocco and the Arab world, and its main objectives are: strengthening the solidarity and cooperation among the Moroccan women judges, achieving a balanced representation of the women judges in decision-making posts, promoting a culture of equality and the principles of equal opportunities in the professional field, opening a space for solidarity and supporting women judges physically and morally, and coordinating and networking with similar associations nationally and internationally.

Consequently, the Association constitutes the gateway through which the Moroccan women judges were able to make their voice heard and advocate their rights and not authorize anyone to do so on their behalf. They also managed to have an effective impact in the context at the time, which was the national dialogue on the justice system reform; among its important programmes was to provide judges with guarantees and rights constitutionally stipulated in the both regulatory laws related to the High Council of the Judiciary and the Judiciary Regulations.

She submitted her draft and vision regarding this provision to the Ministry of Justice, especially what she was interests on as a woman, which is the provision of the chapter (19) of the kingdom's constitution, which stipulates that the State seeks to adopt the parity principle.

She advocated for adopting this requirement for the women judges, whether in terms of admitting to the profession or empowering women judges to assume decision-making posts. Indeed, the result of her struggle was that the Article (65) included this requirement as it stipulated for:

"The Council ensures the application of the guarantees provided to judges, and for that purpose, it manages their professional status according to the principles of equal opportunities, merit, efficiency, transparency, impartiality, and the pursuit of parity."

The Association also called for the establishment of the coalition between professional associations in Morocco and a press conference in this regard was held to identify this coalition and its objectives, through which memorandums were prepared regarding a set of proposals to amend the both laws related to the High Council of the Judiciary and the Judiciary Regulations.

Such memorandums were already submitted to the parliament and meetings with several parliamentary groups were held to explain and approve the contents of the memorandum, which was the first of its kind, and deemed one of the best practices, by the Pursuit of the Moroccan women judge who embodied the spirit of the solidarity and struggle together.

Among the goals of the Association is to conclude partnerships with the civil society Associations, through which a set of forums are organized throughout the Kingdom aimed at discussing a set of discriminatory laws and the family code in order to respond to the royal call to change some of its articles.

The Association not only stands in solidarity and struggles at the national level, but also it went beyond it to the international level through participation and solidarity with women judges from other countries such as Italy, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.

On 29 November 2014, the Association participated in the World Human Rights Forum in Marrakech through a symposium on "Any gender perspective in the Judiciary", which was organized by the Moroccan Association of Women Judges (AMFJ) and Karama Organization and Arab and African Women Judges, where the final recommendations of the symposium resulted in "The Marrakesh Declaration “aimed at establishing a network of women judges in the Arab region and Africa, in order to act collectively to promote the status, positions and roles of women judges, as what was addressed during this symposium of realistic experiences of the women's suffering, whether Arab or African, has developed the idea of ​​establishing this network, which aims to make The voice of the Women judges heard by the officials, and the confirm that the feminine gender is the real and effective power that contributes to develop the rules of justice.

In fact, time does not permit me to mention the role of the Moroccan Association of Women Judges (AMFJ) in embodying the spirit of solidarity, unity and collaboration among the majority of women judges in Morocco, and its permanent upholding to its main objectives that it has planned since its establishment, especially the continuity for the sake of parity. Our presence in this unique meeting represents our absolute solidarity, whether at the national or international level.