Source: CoastWeek
African women judges have decried the patriarchy system for denying women from being appointed as judges across the continent, urging African countries to work on the system especially when it comes to appointing judges in courts and other justice dispensing units.

President of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) Eusebia Munuo said the current system doesn’t give room for more capable women to perform their duties in their respective areas.

Munuo was addressing a two-day colloquium in Tanzania’s northern safari capital of Arusha, which involved African women judges who are meeting here to exhaustively discuss the position of women in African legal perspective.

Munuo said that there are no true commitments in different African countries of appointing women in organs established to dispense justice.

“Right now, there are many women who are capable of executing cases, but they are not given opportunities to exercise what they have,” she said, calling African nations to change the mindsets and give chances for women who can be judges.

“There is no fair play here.

“Our countries doesn’t provide equal opportunities despite the fact that all we’re human beings.

“All these are contributed by the existence of patriarchy system,” she said.

Opening the symposium, Tanzania’s Chief Justice Mohamed Chande Othman said the patriarchy system has been there for years and most African countries haven’t given enough space for women to play their roles in decision making bodies, “this need to be reformed so as to give enough room for this important group in the society to play its part.”

According to Chande, there is only 27 per cent of judges across the world are women so far, but for Tanzanian case, out of 65 judges, 29 are women which is equivalent to 44 per cent.

“Tanzania is ahead of many African countries when it comes to giving chances for women holding top posts in the decision making bodies including courts,” Chande said.

He however heaped his blame on the current social and cultural structures, saying these are main cause of patriarchy system in the continent which doesn’t give equal rights between men and women.

Chande asked women judges to use such symposiums as important platforms for them to fight against the patriarchy system.

“Women judges are in a better position to fight against social and cultural structures that abuse women rights across the region.

“They can also assist other women who have been affected by the system in the legal organs,” he said.

The forum has been organized by the International Commission for Jurists in collaboration with the Judiciary of Tanzania, IAWJ and Tanzania Women Judges Association (TWAJ). Participants are from Tanzania, Swaziland, South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Sierra Leon, Mozambique, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Botswana and Mauritius.