Ladies and Gentlemen;

Socrates said that the woman is the source of everything, and I say that when treated with dignity, she becomes the world’s impregnable fortress. Allow me first to commend the people behind this distinguished meeting for carefully choosing this roundtable’s topic, “Women in the Judiciary, from a Topic to an Agent of Change and Development”. This is not a mere headline for an intellectual gathering but rather a short story about the Moroccan woman across all fields, including the judiciary being the first to embrace her and recognize her pivotal position in society.

We ought to be proud that the first Arab woman judge to go down in modern history is Moroccan. Ms. Amina Abdel Razek assumed this noble profession in the early sixties. This is a real indication of the firm conviction that sustainable development can only be achieved by the efforts of both men and women.

Perhaps, the position the Moroccan woman enjoyed throughout history in general, and in the wake of independence, in particular, is essentially attributed to the interest our valiant Moroccan kings showed in women over time and to their keenness to defend their rights. They spared no effort to empower her and encourage her participation in development, by granting her access to decision-making positions, enabling her to assume her rightful place, and allowing her to take leadership positions for which she is qualified.

Moroccan history has recorded with its golden ink, in several stops, the royal care His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist him, showed for women’s matters. His sound guidance paved the way for achieving equity and equality with men through strengthening the role of women in the Family Code, institutionalizing their rights under the Nationality and Family Affairs Code, granting them all their rights, and banishing all forms of discrimination against them.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Our country realized long ago that promoting the status of women in conservative societies, where they are portrayed as vulnerable, is possible through adopting mechanisms aimed at promoting and protecting their rights, namely establishing equality on the one hand and adopting positive discrimination towards them on the other.

Equality in rights and duties does not necessarily mean that men and women are equal in everything. It means that women and men enjoy rights, get assigned responsibilities, and have access to opportunities based on their capacities and abilities, rather than their gender.

To furtherance constitutional and legislative reforms that assure and enshrine gender equality, the constitution of 2011 explicitly provided for gender equality in its preamble: “the Kingdom of Morocco commits to combat and prohibit all forms of gender-based discrimination against anyone”.

Article 19 of the Constitution also states that: "Men and women shall enjoy equal civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights and freedoms" and that "the State shall work to achieve equality between men and women”. To this end, an Authority for Parity and the Fight Against all Forms of Discrimination was created.

If only we had more time to cite all international agreements that Morocco has been keen to adhere to and always sought to fulfill its obligations, by adapting its legislation to their provisions.

Perhaps, equality alone would have not been enough to achieve the strategies, goals, and programs laid down if it were not for the positive discrimination mechanisms we have adopted for the benefit of women. This was possible by ensuring that women have access to important decision-making positions by virtue of Chapter 115 of the Constitution which ensured the representation of women judges among the ten elected members commensurate with their presence within the judiciary. This mechanism has enabled our country to move forward with changing social awareness that was not used to seeing women assuming such positions. Consequently, the intended success was achieved and women were able to prove themselves in the field, and even surpass their male colleagues sometimes.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

The tangible expression of women’s transition from a mere topic to an agent of change is actually reflected in the statistics recorded by the Supreme Council of the Judicial Power within our judicial system. As a matter of fact, the number of women judges witnessed a significant jump in recent years, both at the level of accessing the judiciary and assuming positions of responsibility either nationally or internationally.

The number of women judges this year has reached 1068 out of 4218, i.e., 25% of the Kingdom’s judges. Meanwhile, 829 women judges (78%) are Justices at ordinary courts of appeals. As for specialized courts, the ratio of women judges within the territorial jurisdiction of the courts of appeals of Casablanca alone is 58% of the total number of judges and justices of the said jurisdiction.

Women judges are geographically distributed throughout Morocco’s first-instance courts. They took on the responsibility of serving the country in all regions to honor their pledges. Some served in Ouarzazate and were appointed first Presidents of the court of appeals; in Laayoune as Presidents of the first instance court; in Souk Sebt, ouled Nema as Presidents of the first instance court, in Oujda as Prosecutors of the King… and the list goes on.

Right off the bat, women judges showed a readiness to shoulder the burden of this strenuous profession at the end of their training at the Higher Judicial Institute. Women trainee judges passed their graduation exams with flying colors and consecutively ranked top 10 in recent regiments.

The registered statistics regarding the number of women judges assuming the responsibility of managing courts do not reflect the magnitude of their presence within courts. This is mainly due to their lack of volition to apply for such positions of responsibility because of family commitments. This prompted the Council to put in place strategic orientations seeking to guarantee equality in assigning responsibilities in a way that encourages women judges to submit their applications and motivates them to assume these positions, as the judicial power needs their input in order to lead the reform carried out by His Majesty the King, may God assist Him.

Nevertheless, the number of women judges in positions of responsibility witnessed a steady increase in recent years as it reached 18. Three of them are members of the Supreme Council of the Judicial Power, one is first-President of a court of appeals, five are Presidents of first instance courts, and nine are Prosecutors of the King. Thanks to their diligence and dedication, women judges managed to head 8 committees within chambers and departments of the Court of Cassation, hence, contributing to the pioneer roles this court assumes in order to unify jurisprudence and ensure judicial security.

There are 38 women deputies to judicial officials, 2 are deputies to first presidents of courts of appeals, 20 are deputies to first instance courts, and 16 are deputies to prosecutors of the King.

Women’s presence at the Supreme Council of the Judicial Power is highly remarkable. Their number reached 178, which means that almost half of the employees are women. Their roles vary from heads of poles, departments, and units to judges, and judicial conservateurs, in addition to other women from different ranks. On this occasion, I would like to laud the Council for its equality approach, as provided for by the Constitution and deserved by women.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

The woman judge did not only assume leadership positions at the national level but also proved capable of undertaking international experiences where she was highly recognized. She was appointed as the chairperson of the Appeals Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a member of the African Administrative Court, a member of international committees such as the United Nations Committee Against Torture, and a liaison judge abroad. All of this only increases our trust in the capacities of our women to lead, change and develop our country as well as contribute to its advancement so as to join countries pioneers in the field of women’s rights.

In conclusion, I hail from this rostrum women’s ardor to attain tremendous achievements, and I also applaud anyone who contributed to the success of this meeting. I wish every prosperous woman the best of luck.

Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh