Introduction: A Historical Overview of Gender and Judicial Authority in the Muslim World

Introduction

“…Another focal point in this thematic issue is the question of gender and judicial authority. As Sonneveld and Lindbekk (2017) have recently shown, while adjudication in Muslim courts has long been a predominantly male exercise, the last decades have seen a significant increase in the appointment of women to the bench in Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and South (East) Asia. Hence, women are an increasingly significant voice among the judiciary.…”

“…While women's appointment to the civil courts in Morocco and Tunisia was a smooth process, it has met with considerable resistance in some other civil law countries, such as in Egypt (Lindbekk, this volume). In countries with separate secular and religious courts, there is a distinction between women's appointment to civil courts and to religious courts, where their appointment has met with considerable opposition (Sonneveld and Lindbekk 2017). Such is the case regarding the shariʿa courts and rabbinical courts in Israel, where the appointment of female judges has been met with protracted opposition from different segments of society, including litigants, male magistrates, and academic (religious) scholars.…”