Book: Women Judges in the Muslim World

Women Judges in the Muslim World: A Comparative Study of Discourse and Practice fills a gap in academic scholarship by examining public debates and judicial practices surrounding the performance of women as judges.

The book fills a gap in academic scholarship by examining public debates and judicial practices surrounding the performance of women as judges in eight Muslim-majority countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco).

Gender, class, and ethnic biases are inscribed in laws, particularly in the domain of shariʿa-derived family law. Editors Nadia Sonneveld and Monika Lindbekk have carefully woven together the extensive fieldwork and expertise of each author. The result is a rich tapestry that brings out the various effects of women judges in the management of justice. In contrast to early scholarship, they convincingly prove that ‘the woman judge’ does not exist.

Contributors are: Monique C. Cardinal, Jessica Carlisle, Monika Lindbekk, Rubya Mehdi, Valentine M. Moghadam, Najibah Mohd Zin, Euis Nurlaelawati, Arskal Salim, Nadia Sonneveld, Ulrike Schultz and Maaike Voorhoeve.

Nadia Sonneveld (Ph.D., University of Amsterdam, 2009) is senior researcher on Gender and Law in the Muslim world at Radboud University, The Netherlands. Her publications include Khulʿ Divorce in Egypt: Public Debates, Judicial Practice, and Everyday Life (2012).

Monika Lindbekk (Ph.D., University of Oslo, 2016) has published several articles on adjudication of Muslim and Coptic Orthodox family law by Egyptian courts. The title of her Ph.D. dissertation is Inscribing Islamic Shariʿa in Egyptian Marriage and Divorce Law: Continuity and Rupture.

Table of Contents

A Note on Transliteration
Acknowledgements
Foreword: Making the Case for Women Judges in the Muslim World: Valentine M. Moghadam

1. Introduction: A Historical Overview of Gender and Judicial Authority in the Muslim World: Nadia Sonneveld and Monika Lindbekk

Part One: Comparative Understandings of Women’s Appointment as Judges
2. Do Female Judges Judge Differently? Empirical Realities of a Theoretical Debate: Ulrike Schultz
3. Women’s Access to Legal Education and Their Appointment to the Judiciary: The Dutch, Egyptian, and Indonesian Cases Compared: Nadia Sonneveld

Part Two: Country Studies
4. Female Judges at Indonesian Religious Courtrooms: Opportunities and Challenges to Gender Equality: Euis Nurlaelawati and Arskal Salim
5. Seeking Portia and the Duke: Male and Female Judges Dispensing Justice in Paternity Cases in Morocco: Nadia Sonneveld
6. Female Judges in Malaysian Shari‘a Courts: A Problem of Gender or Legal Interpretation?: Najibah Mohd Zin
7. Tunisian Female Judges and ‘The Mobilization of the Emancipation of the Tunisian Family Law’: Maaike Voorhoeve
8. Lady Judges of Pakistan: Embodying the Changing Living Tradition of Islam: Rubya Mehdi
9. The Politics of Exclusion: Women Public Prosecutors and Criminal Court Judges in Syria (1975-2009): Monique C. Cardinal
10. The Best of times, the Worst of Times: State-Salaried, Female Legal Professionals and Foreign Donor Policy in Post-Qadhafi Libya: Jessica Carlisle
11. Women Judges in Egypt: Discourse and Practice: Monika Lindbekk

Index
List of Contributors

Bibliographic Information

Title: Women Judges in the Muslim World, A Comparative Study of Discourse and Practice

Editors: Nadia Sonneveld and Monika Lindbekk

Publisher: BRILL

Language: English

Length: 340 pages

ISBN: 9789004306912

Pub. Date: April 2017