A Long-Awaited Right: First Cohort of Women appointed to the State Council through the Regular Pathway
Press Release
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) congratulates women and men in Egypt on the effective removal of the last legal barrier preventing women from holding all judicial positions in Egypt, following the presidential decree appointing 207 judges in the rank of Assistant Delegates to the State Council.
The decree, issued on August 26th, marks a historic turning point, those appointed women judges are the first cohort to join the State Council through the regular pathway, starting from the entry level of the judicial career ladder.
EIPR extends special congratulations to all women legal professionals who, for decades, have struggled to secure their natural right to occupy judicial seats, including within the State Council. We especially remember those who fought these battles without receiving justice, beginning with Dr. Aisha Rateb, the first to challenge in court her exclusion from appointment to the State Council in 1949, up until today. This achievement is a culmination of accumulated efforts of generations of Egyptian women.
The presidential decree, published in the Official Gazette under No. 447/2025, appointed 207 law graduates from the class of 2021 as Assistant Delegates to the State Council, among them nearly 48 women judges. Notably, the first name on the list, ranked by merit and therefore seniority, belongs to a woman judge.
In EIPR’s analysis, women’s access to all judicial posts represents the only meaningful achievement by the state to uphold women’s rights in the past decade. We celebrate it as the rightful gain for women legal professionals, as an affirmation of equality and enforcement of the Constitution, and as putting an end to a long legacy of discrimination in this regard. We also recognise that, in itself, it does not guarantee women’s access to justice, but it once again proves that the struggle of Egyptian women for their rights has always been — and remains — their only path forward.
