The United Arab Emirates Justice Minister, Mohammad bin Nakhira al-Dhaheri, announced that women will soon be allowed to become judges across the UAE. The present law, stating that only a Muslim man is entitled to assume the position of a federal judge, has allowed males in the conservative monarchy to hold a monopoly over the profession. The proposed law, which should cover the judiciary in the seven-member federation, would make the UAE the second Gulf country after Bahrain to allow women to become judges. Currently, women hold nine seats in the 40-member Federal National Council. The UAE president has appointed eight of these women to join the half-elected advisory body.
When the law will be amended has not yet been disclosed. In the meantime, women are currently being trained at the Judicial Institute to become judges and prosecutors.
Compiled from: “United Arab Emirates – UAE – Will Soon Have Women Judges,” Gulf in the Media, Agence France-Presse, 7 January 2008