"equal" in everything except the eyes of the law
Maybe I have been lured into a false sense of security by my daily activities and the open-minded people that I deal with regularly. I need news stories like the one below every once in a while to remind me of the kind of society that I live in now. I have added the bold formatting as a sort of commentary on the article... I need not use words for you to understand my outrage, I'm sure. This makes me feel sick, angry and very, very sad.
Men’s verdict: No women judges
The Peninsula
January 9, 2008
"DOHA • Male lawyers in Qatar are opposed to women being appointed as judges and say if at all, they should be restricted to family courts.
A woman is emotionally and physiologically not geared to fit in the role of a judge since the job demands a balanced disposition, said Waleed Abu Nida, a lawyer.
Women are showing excellence in almost every field in Qatar and walking shoulder to shoulder with men, but dispensing justice is not their cup of tea. "It is entirely the male's domain," said Lawyer Mohsen Thiyab Al Suwaidi.
"We, however, support the idea of women judges in the family courts," he said. Women are physiologically not geared to be in a judge's role since their performance can be affected during menstrual cycle, pregnancy and delivery," argued Al Suwaidi.
The Peninsula was seeking the views of the legal fraternity on whether women should be appointed as judges in the Qatari courts after media reported yesterday the UAE had decided to have females in the profession, triggered a debate here.
According to Abu Nida, even if a woman is picked as a judge, her performance would be good for a limited period. "It's rare to have a female judge with a stable track record throughout her career," he said.
Isam Mehfooz, from Mohamed Nasser Fudala's Lawyer's Firm, said he was not opposed to women being inducted as judges but quickly referred to the family courts where he said he saw a more important role for them.
As for criminal courts, Mehfooz said he didn't think that would be the kind of court where a female would be able to fit in as a judge. [Context note: Qatar is a country where the general crime rate, not to mention the violent crime rate, is almost zero.]
"I think there are enough signs here indicating that women may soon begin entering the judicial profession. The number of women lawyers is increasing and, recently, a female has been picked as a Public Prosecutor," said Mehfooz.
Having women as judges in the Arab world is not a new development, according to Abu Nida. "Five months ago, a woman was appointed a judge in Egypt," he said. "But they shouldn't be. They are emotionally disposed which can be disadvantageous for a judge's job," argued Abu Nida.
Historically, all religions in the world are opposed to having females as judges, he said.
There are verses in the Holy Quran and some Hadith (Traditions of the Prophet-PBUH) against women being appointed as judges, Al Suwaidi said.
But a woman lawyer, who asked not to be named, was highly critical of her male counterparts and said their opinion that females should not be allowed to become judges was biased.
"A judge has to base his or her decision on points of law and evidence, so where is the question of emotion and physiology being involved in it. There is no reason why we can't become judges," she said.
"In Qatar, women have proved their worth in every conceivable field, so why they shouldn't be allowed to enter the judicial profession," she asked."
posted by acs @ 10:36 AM
6 Comments:
now heres a thought: because men believe that women become incapable of logic during their menstrual cycle, could a woman technically plea insanity if she breaks the law while on her period?
also it says "their performance can be affected during menstrual cycle, pregnancy and delivery,"...
why would a woman be working while she is delivering a baby?
that's what I was going to say...I don't know any woman declaring verdicts as a baby is popping out. Clearly these were well thought out points.
Words escape me
Equally women shouldn't be midwives as it would be too risky that she might be giving birth while she is meant to be helping someone else.
But seriously, it's so easy to forget or ignore the inequalities in parts of the world other than your own. This is unbelievable.
Another example from a wee bit of research I was doing into m-banking: "in Swaziland, a woman needs the consent of her father, husband or brother to open an account" (The Economist)
We still have a way to go in this world...
Dan, that's a good point.
That's also the way things are in Qatar. Imagine the difficulties of setting up an expansion when all of the MC has to be female (so we can work with male and female members) and none of us have our brother, husband or father as residents in Qatar to open a bank account for us.
And that is also one of the reasons why @ will never exist in Saudi.
It'd be cool to read about some of the open-minded Qataris you've met and work with in your blog. Anyone who reads international news has come across several articles about unfair laws in the gulf and the middle East in general, and so that perspective of the world is pretty common. But very few of us are in a position to speak about other forward-thinking perspectives that exist within those societies that are working for change. I'm sure AIESEC has attracted a few of these individuals, and I'd like to hear more from you about them and about the perspective most of us don't get to read in mainstream news.
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