Women in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region, including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia, are significantly affected by considerable inequalities. Discriminatory legal frameworks and neutral laws enforced with underlying biases and stereotypes continue to hold women in the region back from fully participating in society. Crucially, this is also the case in political and other leadership and decision-making positions. Enhancing the contributions of women judges is particularly important as gender justice remains elusive in many aspects. With increasing demand for judiciaries to play a more independent role in championing human rights and women’s human rights, there is urgency for many women legal and justice professionals to have in-depth knowledge, skills and networking opportunities to enable them to be fully effective actors on gender justice.
IDLO, alongside the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), under the patronage of the High Judicial Council of Morocco, are organizing a high-level gathering of regional women judges. The forum will bring together over 50 women judges from the region to work toward the establishment and development of a regional women judges' platform. The forum will serve as a first step in building the foundation for the establishment of a broader and sustained regional platform "Towards Women Judges' Common Platform for the SEMED Region" to reduce gender barriers to women, including women's economic participation in entrepreneurial activities, gender-based violence, and equal family and marriage rights.