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A quota for female representation within the professional associations of lawyers? Faced with this proposal from the Ministry of Justice, ABAM says no.
Contacted by us to confirm and explain this position, the president of theMoroccan Bar Associationthe president Houssine Ziani did not respond to our requests. That said, a well-informed source tells Médias24 that if ABAM rejects this proposal, it is because it “considers that it is the elections that have their say”. In other words, there is no point in establishing a quota. If women are to be elected, they will be by force of the ballot box.
But the profession is not unanimous on this subject. Contacted by Médias24, Me Kawtar Jalallawyer at the Casablanca bar, believes that it is a “imbalance historical” which needs to be corrected.
It should be noted that the proposal from the Ministry of Justice comes within the framework of ongoing negotiations between the Department of Abdellatif Ouahbi and the Moroccan Bar Association which represents the profession to the ministry.
According to our source, speaking on condition of anonymity, another proposal from the Ministry of Justice poses a problem in the eyes of ABAM. This is the establishment of several years of seniority as condition of access to a position of responsibility within the profession.
According to our information, the Ministry of Justice is proposing between 25 and 30 years old of seniority to access responsibility. This suggestion is therefore also rejected by the Moroccan Bar Association.
But the one that provokes the most reaction, in an era where fair opportunities – particularly between genders – is no longer questionable, and above all established as a constitutional right, is the establishment of a quota system .
A constitutional and international foundation
Me Kawtar Jalal loudly defends “the need to adopt the quota system as a transitional measure aimed at establishing a balance within the professional orders of lawyers”. According to her, “quota systems are not discrimination, but a constitutional and international obligation to ensure equality between the sexes”.
The lawyer, who has already pleaded in favor of female representation within the profession, by calling for its introduction into the bill governing the legal profession, recalls that article 19 of the Constitution Moroccan law provides that ‘man and woman enjoy equal rights and freedoms of a civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental nature, set out in this title of the Constitution and in other constitutional provisions, as well as in international conventions and pacts duly ratified by Morocco. The State works to achieve parity between men and women.
“Morocco has also ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which constitutes an international reference in the promotion of women’s rights and which encourages States to adopt transitional measures such as the quota systemto achieve effective equality between the sexes,” continues the lawyer.
She also emphasizes that “the Moroccan Constitution enshrines equal rights between men and women, which makes gender justice a legal obligation for the legislator. Furthermore, it is not limited to equality, but requires the State to pursue the objective of parity, which requires incentive measures such as the quota system”.
“The quota is not a privilege but a temporary tool”
To support her position, she specifies that the quota system is a “patch tool”. According to her, it “constitutes neither a privilege nor a concession, but a temporary tool to restore a balance between the sexes in areas marked by historical and structural imbalances. Social traditions and professional systems often hinder women’s access to decision-making positions. The legislator must therefore intervene to overcome these obstacles. Quotas are a way to achieve this balance”.
Furthermore, she believes that “justice cannot do without women, since the legal profession, which is the spokesperson for justice, cannot exclude women from decision-making bodies. Women represent a significant proportion of lawyersand their representativeness fair in professional advice is a rightnot a privilege”.
Me Kawtar Jalal also highlights “the lessons from international experiences”. These “show that the adoption of quotas promotes increased participation of women in professions historically dominated by men et improves the quality of decisions thanks to the diversity of points of view and experiences. Quotas are not an end in themselves, but a way to achieve balanced representation”.
Furthermore, Me Jalal concludes his argument in favor of the quota system by recalling that the latter “guarantees competence and fairness”.
“The adoption of quotas does not mean that it will be to the detriment of competence. On the contrary, it opens the way to female skills often marginalized by structural obstacles. The objective is to correct imbalances while maintaining the principle of competence,” she continues.
And added: “I can unequivocally affirm that the integration of the quota system into the law governing the legal profession concretizes the principles of the Moroccan Constitution and the country’s international commitments. This is a crucial step in correcting a imbalance historical which slows down the representation of women lawyers within professional orders”.
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