Saudi women to be granted license to practice law Saudi women lawyers will finally be allowed to practice legally their profession in court, Saudi newspapers have reported on Monday. The move will put an end to years of controversy on whether women should be allowed to represent their clients’ cases in Islamic courts. So far, female law graduates were only allowed to work as legal consultants for companies as they were not licensed to practice their profession in a court of law.
A source quoted in The Saudi al-Riyadh daily said that no religious reason forbids women from representing clients in court. The source added that the Ministry of Justice started the technical procedure which will see women officially allowed to practice law. A fingerprint identification system will be installed in court in order to verify their identity without showing their faces.
Hatoun Al Fassi, a prominent Saudi women’s rights activist told Gulf News:
“Every day, I see it closer than the day earlier.
“At every stage, the ceiling of expectations becomes higher.”
“I believe the delay [of the issue] like many other things is not justified.”
There are approximately 2000 women lawyers in Saudi Arabia. A campaign called “I am a female lawyer” was organised last year on social networks to pressure the government into giving women more professional freedom.