Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction: A Historical Overview of Gender and Judicial Authority in the Muslim World / Nadia Sonneveld and Monika Lindbekk -- Do Female Judges Judge Differently? Empirical Realities of a Theoretical Debate / Ulrike Schultz -- Women’s Access to Legal Education and Their Appointment to the Judiciary: The Dutch, Egyptian, and Indonesian Cases Compared / Nadia Sonneveld -- Female Judges at Indonesian Religious Courtrooms: Opportunities and Challenges to Gender Equality / Euis Nurlaelawati and Arskal Salim -- Seeking Portia and the Duke: Male and Female Judges Dispensing Justice in Paternity Cases in Morocco / Nadia Sonneveld -- Female Judges in Malaysian Shariʿa Courts: A Problem of Gender or Legal Interpretation? / Najibah Mohd Zin -- Tunisian Female Judges and ‘The Mobilization of the Emancipative Potential of the Tunisian Family Law’ / Maaike Voorhoeve -- Lady Judges of Pakistan: Embodying the Changing Living Tradition of Islam / Rubya Mehdi -- The Politics of Exclusion: Women Public Prosecutors and Criminal Court Judges in Syria (1975–2009) / Monique C. Cardinal -- The Best of Times, the Worst of Times: State-Salaried, Female Legal Professionals and Foreign Policy in Post-Qadhafi Libya / Jessica Carlisle -- Women Judges in Egypt: Discourse and Practice / Monika Lindbekk -- Index.

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Women Judges in the Muslim World: A Comparative Study of Discourse and Practice fills a gap in academic scholarship by examining public debates and judicial practices surrounding the performance of women as judges in eight Muslim-majority countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco). Gender, class, and ethnic biases are inscribed in laws, particularly in the domain of shariʿa -derived family law. Editors Nadia Sonneveld and Monika Lindbekk have carefully woven together the extensive fieldwork and expertise of each author. The result is a rich tapestry that brings out the various effects of women judges in the management of justice. In contrast to early scholarship, they convincingly prove that ‘the woman judge’ does not exist. Contributors are: Monique C. Cardinal, Jessica Carlisle, Monika Lindbekk, Rubya Mehdi, Valentine M. Moghadam, Najibah Mohd Zin, Euis Nurlaelawati, Arskal Salim, Nadia Sonneveld, Ulrike Schultz and Maaike Voorhoeve.