Women in the United Arab Emirates will soon be allowed to become judges, breaking a male monopoly over the profession in the conservative monarchy, the Justice Minister was quoted as saying yesterday. Women are currently being trained at the Judicial Institute to become judges and prosecutors across the UAE once the law is amended, the English daily Gulf News reported, quoting Mohammad bin Nakhira al-Dhaheri. "At present the law states that only a Muslim man is entitled to assume the position of a judge," he said, without specifying when the law will be changed. The proposed law, which should cover the judiciary in the seven-member federation, would make the UAE the second Gulf country after Bahrain to allow women to become judges.

Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.