Appointment of Female Judges in Egypt Stirs Up Debate About A Woman’s Role

CNS News.com
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
By Hadeel al-Shalchi, Associated Press

Cairo (AP) - When women tried to join the bench on Egypt's top administrative court, the uproar from its judges was fierce. Women are too emotional, they insisted -- and who will take care of the family if the mother is busy with the arduous tasks of the courtroom? In internet chat rooms, the response from Egyptian men and women was even stronger. Women are too fragile, they're not up for making life-changing rulings, and menstruation and pregnancy make them unfit to be judges. It took a street protest, government intervention and a Constitutional Court ruling over the past weeks to get women appointed to Egypt's State Council court for the first time.
The final result was a victory, but many women's rights advocates are dismayed that after decades of struggle it took such a fight, and that such views still run so deep, even among the country's elite. Especially given that women have already been judges for years on most Egyptian courts.

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