This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Africa. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are the first women in their country to achieve a certain distinction such as obtaining a law degree.
Efigénia Mariquinha dos Santos Lima Clemente (1985), Maria Immaculate Lourenço da Conceição Neto (1988), and Luzia Bebiana de Almeida Sebastião (1991):[24][25][26][27] First females appointed as Judges of the Constitutional Court of Angola (2008)
Exalgina Gambôa:[28][29] First female to serve as the President of the Angolan Court of Auditors (2018)
Laurinda Cardoso (b. 1975):[30] First female to serve as the President of the Constitutional Court of Angola (2021)
Efigénia Mariquinha dos Santos Lima Clemente (1985):[31] First native-born female to serve as the Vice-President of the Supreme Court of Angola (2023)
Inocencia Pinto:[32] First female to serve as the Deputy Attorney General of Angola (2023)
Hélène Aholou Keke (1974):[33] First female lawyer in Benin. She is also the first female to serve as the President of the Benin Bar Association.[34]
Ismath Bio Tchané Mamadou:[40] First (female) President of the Court of Auditors of Benin (2021)
Unity Dow (b. 1959) (1983):[36][41][42][43][44] First female to study law in Botswana and become a judge (upon her appointment to the High Court of Botswana in 1998). She later became the first female to sit on the Constitutional Court of Botswana.
Memooda Ebrahim-Carstens:[45] First Botswanan female appointed as a Judge of the specialized Industrial Court of Botswana (1994)
Sanji Mmasenono Monageng (b. 1950):[48][49] First Motswana female appointed as a Judge of the International Criminal Court (2009–2018). She was also the first (female) Chief Executive Officer of the Law Society of Botswana (established in 1997).[50] In 1989, she became the third female magistrate in Botswana's history.[36][51]
Kouma Emilienne Caboret (née Ilboudo):[55][56][57] First female judge in Burkina Faso (1969; when the country was known as Upper Volta). She was also the first female to serve as the President of the High Judicial Court of Burkina Faso (1989).
Ramata Fofana:[61][62] First female to serve as the President of a Court of Appeals in Burkina Faso (Bobo-Dioulasso Court of Appeal, 1989–1992; Court of Appeal of Ouagadougou, 1999–2001)
Anne Konate and Jeanne Some:[63] First females appointed as members of the Constitutional Council of Burkina Faso (2002)
Amina Moussou Ouédraogo Traoré:[64][65] First female appointed as the Vice President of the Supreme Court of Burkina Faso (1992) and Mediator of Burkina Faso[fr] (2005)
Thérèse Traoré:[66] First female to serve as the President of the Court of Cassation of Burkina Faso (2014)
Ramata Sanfo:[67] First female lawyer to become a notary in Burkina Faso (2016)
Florence Rita Arrey (b. 1948):[77][78][79] First female justice appointed as the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal in Cameroon (1990). She was also the first female appointed as the Prosecutor of the Court of First Instance (1974). She became the first female to serve as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Cameroon (2000). In 2018, she became the first female to become a member of the Constitutional Council of Cameroon.
Justine Aimée Ngounou Tchokonthieu:[80][81][82] First female to be appointed as the Attorney General of a Court of Appeal in Cameroon (2010). She later became the first female appointed as the Attorney General of the Special Criminal Court of Cameroon (2015)
Danièle Darlan (b. 1952), Clémentine Fanga Napala, Sylvia Pauline Yawet Kengueleoua, and Marie Serra:[100] First females to serve as members of the Constitutional Court of the Central African Republic (2013). In 2017, Darlan became the first female elected President of the Constitutional Court.[101]
Adelaïde Dembélé and Emmanuelle Ducos:[102] First females appointed as members of the Special Criminal Court of the Central African Republic (2017). In 2018, Ducos was elected as the first (female) Vice-President of the Special Criminal Court.[103]
Ngonyam Béradinfar:[104] First female magistrate in Chad (1983)
Marthe Nonde Odio:[124] First female to serve as First President of the Council of State (a federal administrative court) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2022)
Korane Ahmed Aouled:[125] First Djiboutian woman to start a legal practice in the private sector in Djibouti
Khadija Abeba:[126][127][128] First female judge in Djibouti (1977).[129][130] She is also the first female to serve as President of the High Court of Appeal of Djibouti and the Supreme Court of Djibouti (both in 1996).
Fatouma Mahamoud:[131] First female to serve as the President of the Bar Association of Djibouti (2007)
Ismahan Mahamoud Ibrahim:[132] First female to serve as the First President of the Court of Accounts of Djibouti (2017)
Mufidah Abdul Rahman:[136][137] First female lawyer to take cases to the Court of Cassation in Egypt, the first woman to practice law in Cairo, Egypt, the first woman to plead a case before a military court in Egypt, and the first woman to plead cases before courts in the south of Egypt
Sally al-Saidi:[143] First female appointed as a Judge of the Criminal Court (2009) and the Head of the Court of Cassation of Egypt (2013)
Dalia al-Namaky:[144] First female appointed as the Chief Judge of the Family Courts in Egypt (2010)
Namira Negm:[145] First (Egyptian) female to serve as the Legal Counsel for the African Union (2017)
Hasnaa Shaaban Abdullah:[146][147] First female judge to preside over a court in Egypt (upon her appointment as the President of the Tanta Economic Court in 2018)
Fatima Qandil:[148] First female to serve as the President of the Criminal Court of Egypt (2019)
Mona Ibrahim Mohamed Tawila:[149][150][151] First female to serve as the head of a department of the High Court of Appeal of Egypt (2020)
Radwa Helmi:[152][153][148] First female appointed as a Judge and President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Egypt (2022)
Hind Ahmed Ali Aliwa Amar, Radwa Helmi, and Mona Mahmoud Ahmed Rushdi Mahmoud:[154] First females appointed as Judges at the State Council of Egypt (2024)
Ana María Dougan Thomson (1957):[155][156][157] One of the practicing female lawyers around the time of Equatorial Guinea's independence in 1968. She later served as the Dean of the Bar Association of Equatorial Guinea (1990).
Qinisile Mabuza (1978):[160][161] First female lawyer and prosecutor in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). She later became the first female judge in 2005 (upon her appointment as Judge of the High Court of Eswatini).[162]
Mumcy Dlamini:[163] First female to serve as the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions in Eswatini (2006)
Lorraine Hlophe and Dumsile Faith Dlamini:[164] First females appointed as Judges of the Industrial Court of Eswatini (2021)
Alexandra Hamawi:[165][166] First female law graduate in Ethiopia (1966)
Sinidu Alemu:[175][176] First (female) President of the Ethiopian Federal Advocates Association (2021)
Marylise Issembé:[177][178][179] First female lawyer in Gabon (after having registered in Gabon's Libreville Bar). She was the first female to serve as the Interim President of the National Bar of Gabon.[180]
Rose Francine Rogombé:[181][182] First female judge in Gabon (1967). She was also the first female to serve as a deputy prosecutor, investigating judge, Vice-President of the Libreville Tribunal de Grande Instance, public prosecutor and advisor to the judicial chamber of the Supreme Court of Gabon.
Aminatta Lois Runeni N’gum:[188] First female appointed as a Magistrate Class I in The Gambia (1980). She would become the first female Senior Magistrate (1981), Principal Magistrate (1987), and Master of the Supreme Court of the Gambia (1989).
Mary Sey:[189][190][191][192] First female judge in Gambia (upon her appointment to the High Court of The Gambia in the 1990s)
Charlotte Laurence (1986):[213] First female lawyer in Guinea
Fatoumata Binta Diallo (1998):[214] First woman who registered to practice law in the Bar of the Republic of Guinea Conakry (Barreau de la République de Guinée)
Aïssatou Toure:[213] First female to serve as the Attorney General of a Court of Appeal in Guinea
Mariama Souadou Diallo:[215][216] First female prosecutor of the magistracy of Guinea
Rouguiatou Barry:[217] First female to serve as a member of the Constitutional Court of Guinea (2015)
Maria do Céu Monteiro:[218][219][220] First female magistrate and judge in Guinea-Bissau. She was also the first female justice elected as the President of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Superior Council of Guinea-Bissau (2004).
Aissatu Baldé and Carmelita Djú:[221][222] First females to serve as Councilors of the Court of Auditors of Guinea-Bissau (2022)
Kwassi Béatrice Cowplli-Boni:[33] First female lawyer in Ivory Coast
Chantal Camara:[226] First female justice appointed as the President of the Court of Cassation of Ivory Coast (2019) and Superior Council of the Judiciary[227]
Sori Nayé Henriette:[228][229] First female to serve as the Attorney General of a Court of Appeal in Ivory Coast (upon her appointment to the Court of Appeal of Abidjan in 2022)
Florence Loan-Messan:[230] First female to serve as the President (Bâtonnière) of the Order of Lawyers of Ivory Coast (2023)
Katharine Hurst:[231] First female prosecutor in the Kenya Colony (1953)
Kalpana Rawal (1975):[232][233][234][235] First female lawyer in Kenya (upon her establishment of a law practice in 1975). She later became the first female judge of Asian descent in Kenya (2000).
Joyce Nuku Khaminwa:[236] First African female to establish a private practice in Kenya (1978)
Effie Owuor (c. 1960s):[237][238][239][240][241] First female judge of Kenya (upon her appointment as a Judge of the High Court in 1982). She was also the first female to be appointed as a state counsel (c. 1960s), magistrate (1971), and Judge of the Court of Appeal (2003) in Kenya.
Roselyn Naliaka Nambuye:[242] First female to serve as a Principal Magistrate in Kenya (1988)
Mary Ang'awa:[243] First female to serve as the Chief Magistrate of an Anti-Corruption Court in Kenya (1990)
Raychelle Awuor Omamo:[244] First female to serve as the President of the Law Society of Kenya (2001)
Abida Ali-Aroni:[245] First Muslim female appointed as a Judge of the High Court in Kenya (2009)
Emma Shannon Walser (1969):[261][263][264] First female judge in Liberia (upon her appointment as a Judge of the Circuit Court of Liberia in 1971)
Amymusu K. Jones:[265][266][267] First female magistrate in Liberia (upon her appointment to the Monrovia City Magisterial Court in 1994). She was also the first female to serve as a Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court in Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia (c. 2006).
Malia Doe:[270] First female juvenile court judge in Liberia (1997)
Charlene Aimesa Reeves:[271] First female to serve as the Solicitor General for Liberia
Edwina Edjerah Barchue:[272] First female Public Defender in Liberia
Karima El Hadi Turki:[273][274] First female lawyer in Libya
Naïma Mohamed Jibril:[275][276] First female judge in Libya before the law forbade women from holding judicial positions in 1976 (1975)
Rafia al-Obaidi and Fatima al-Barasi:[277][278][279][280] First female judges in Libya after judicial restrictions were lifted in 1989[281] (upon their appointment to the Benghazi Court of First Instance in 1989). In 2010, al-Obaidi became the first female advisor in the Supreme Judicial Council of Libya.[282]
Isabelle Razafintsalama:[285] First female public prosecutor in Madagascar
Emilie Radaody-Ralarosy:[286][287] First Malagasy female magistrate (c. 1961). She was also the first female appointed as a councilor (judge) of the Supreme Court of Madagascar (1965).
Anastasia Msosa (1975):[294][295][296] First female appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals (1992–1997), Judge of the High Court (1993–1998), and Chief Justice (2013–2015)
Kaïta Kayentao Diallo:[308][311][312][313] First female Justice of the Peace in Mali (1985). She is also the first female appointed as the President of the Supreme Court of Mali (2006).
Manassa Danioko:[35][308][316] First female appointed as the President of the Constitutional Court of Mali (2015). She was also the first female appointed as the Attorney General of Mali (1995).
Amamah Bint Cheikh Sidya:[318][319] First female judge in Mauritania (2013)
Tekber Mint Oudeika:[320][321] First female judge to serve as the president of a court in Mauritania (upon her appointment as President of the Labor Court in 2018). In 2015, she became the first female to serve as a Judge of the Commercial Court of the Mauritanian capital.[322][323]
Aisha Mint Ahmed (2021):[324] First Haratin female lawyer in Mauritania
Chidambaram Rajalutchemee:[329] First female notary in Mauritius (1993)
Narghis Bundhun:[332] First female to serve as the President of the Mauritius Bar Association (2000)
Urmila Boolell:[333] First female lawyer to set up her own legal practice in Mauritius (2008). She and Bundhun were the first women to become Senior Counsels in Mauritius (2016-2017).
Gracieuse Lacoste-Etcheverry:[338][339] First female appointed as the President of the Court of Appeal of Saint-Denis (2015) [jurisdiction over Mayotte and Réunion]
Christiane Féral-Schuhl:[340] First female to serve as the President of the Conseil National des Barreaux (CNB) in Mayotte (2019)
Fabienne Atzori:[341] First female to serve as the Attorney General of Reunion and Mayotte (2021)
Hidaya Daousinka:[342] First female to serve as a justice commissioner in Mayotte (2024)
Rabiha Fath Al-Nur:[360][361][362] First female appointed as the chief prosecutor of a court of first instance in Morocco (2021)
Hajar Boudraa:[363] First veiled Muslim female judge (of Moroccan descent) in Italy (2023)
Noémia Neves Anacleto (c. 1953):[364] First female lawyer in Mozambique
Gita Honwana Welch:[365][366][367][368][369] First female judge in Mozambique (sometime between 1978–1989). She is also considered the first female academic lawyer in Mozambique.
Maria Noémia Francisco:[368] First female to serve as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Mozambique (1988)
Luísa Chadraca (c. 1990):[370] First woman to enroll with the Bar Association of Mozambique (Ordem dos Advogados de Moçambique)
Lúcia Fernanda Buinga Maximiano do Amaral and Lúcia da Luz Ribeiro:[368][373] First females to serve as Judges of the Constitutional Council of Mozambique (2003). Ribeiro later became the first female to serve as the President of the Constitutional Council of Mozambique in 2019.
Karen Goldblatt Marshall (1966):[374] First female lawyer (non-native) in Namibia (upon being called to the Bar of Windhoek). She later became the first female judge in Namibia.
Maria Catharina Greeff (c. 1977):[375] First native-born Caucasian female lawyer in Namibia. She was also the first female conveyance to be admitted in Namibia.
Bience Gawanas (c. 1993):[376][377] First native-born Namibian female lawyer in Namibia. She was also the first female appointed as the Head of the Office of the Namibian Ombudsman (1996–2003).
Mavis Gibson:[378][379] First female appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Namibia (1995)
Eliane J. Allagbada:[390][391] First female to serve as the President of the Court of Accounts of Niger (2010). She was also the first female to serve as a Judge of the Court of First Instance of Niamey.
Victoria Ayodele Uzoamaka Onejeme (1965):[401] First female to become an Attorney General in the history of Nigeria (1978). In 1984, she became the first Igbo female judge in Nigeria.[402]
Zainab Bulkachuwa:[311] First female judge to serve as the President of the Court of Appeals of Nigeria (2014)
Agathe Pembellot (France Bar; 1969):[419][420] First female magistrate in the Republic of the Congo (1973), as well as the first female member of the Supreme Court of the Republic of the Congo (1982)
Delphine Edith Emmanuel Adouki:[424] First female to serve as a member of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of the Congo (2003)
Yvonne Kimbembe:[425] First female to serve as the Attorney General of the Court of Auditors and Budgetary Discipline of the Republic of the Congo (2009)
Valérie Lebreton:[428] First female to serve as the President of the Tribunal de Grande of Saint-Pierre (2019) [jurisdiction over Réunion]
Fabienne Atzori:[341] First female to serve as the Attorney General of Reunion and Mayotte (2021)
Agnès Ntamabyariro:[429] First female to serve as the Vice-President of a Court of Appeal in Rwanda (upon her appointment to the position for the Nyabisindu Court of Appeal in 1985)
Odette Murara:[429] First female to serve as the President of a Court of Appeal in Rwanda (upon her appointment to the position for the Kigali Court of Appeal in 1995)
Marie-Josée Mukandamage:[429][435] First female to serve as a Vice President of the Supreme Court of Rwanda and the President of the Court of Auditors of Rwanda (both in 1999)
Marie-José Crespin:[452][453] First female to serve on the Constitutional Council of Senegal (1992). She is also the first female to serve as the President of the Court of Appeal of Dakar, Senegal.
Laure Pillay and Samia Govinden:[461][462] First female magistrate in Seychelles (2005-2006). Govinden became the first Seychellois female senior magistrate in 2008.
Dora Zatte:[463] First female to serve as the Ombudsman of the Seychelles (2010)
Aswan Harmud:[490] First female lawyer to become the Prosecutor of Somaliland (2015)
In 1909, Madeline Wookey began fighting for the right to practice law in South Africa. She lost her case at the appellate level in 1912.[491][492][493]
Frances Lyndall Schreiner:[494] First female law graduate in South Africa (1914)
Constance Mary Hall (1926):[493][495] First female lawyer in South Africa
Esmé du Plessis (1965):[515] First female to serve as the president of a law society in South Africa (1995). She was also the first female lawyer qualified as a patent agent in South Africa.
Lebogang Modiba:[511] First female to serve as the President of the Special Tribunal in South Africa (2022)
Mabaeng Lenyai:[524][525] First female elected as the President of the Law Society of South Africa (2022)
Salwa Berberi:[526] First female law graduate (c. 1970s) and lawyer in South Sudan
Sania Mustafa (c. 1960s):[527] First female lawyer in Sudan
Ihsan Mohamed Fakhri:[528][529][530] First female judge in Sudan (1965). She later became the first female appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Sudan.
Nagwa Kamal Farid:[531][532][533] First female appointed as a Judge of the Shari'a Court in Sudan (1970)
Suad bint Mohammed al Lamkiya:[543][544][545][546][547] First Zanzibari-born female to become a lawyer, though she was unsuccessful in establishing her own legal practice due to the Zanzibar Revolution
Janet Sekihola:[548] First female appointed as a Primary Court Magistrate in Zanzibar (c. 1980s)
Salma Ali Hassan Khamis and Mwanamkaa Abdulrahman Mohammed:[549] First females to serve as the Director and Deputy Director respectively of the Office of Public Prosecutions in Zanzibar (2021)
Acouetey Massan Lorette:[33] First female lawyer in Togo
Biyémi Brigitte Brym-Kekeh:[550][551][552] First female magistrate in Togo (c. 1960s). She later became the first female to serve as President of the Judicial Chamber of the Supreme Court of Togo.[553]
Sylvia Aquereburu:[554] First female notary in Togo (1981)
Madoé Virginie Ahodikpe and Justine Azanlédji-Ahadzi:[553][560] First females to serve as the Attorney General of the Supreme Court of Togo (appointed in 1997 and 2022 respectively; Ahodikpe may have held her position on a substitute basis)
Juliette Smaja Zerah (1916):[561][562][563][564] First [Jewish] female to study law (1911) and become a lawyer in Tunisia
Amna Aouij:[565][566] First female magistrate in Tunisia (1966)
Emma Chtioui and Joudeh Jijah:[567][568][569][529][570] First female judges respectively in Tunisia (1968)
Leila Khadija Zouari Bel Hassan (1970) and Aïda Ajimi (1973):[478][567] First Muslim female lawyers in Tunisia
Laeticia Kikonyogo (1968):[576] First female magistrate in Uganda (upon being appointed to Grade I from 1971 to 1973). She was also the first female Chief Magistrate (1973–1986), Judge of the High Court of Uganda (1986), Justice of the Supreme Court of Uganda (1997) and Deputy Chief Justice of Uganda (2001-2010 after having served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Uganda/Constitutional Court of Uganda).
Rebecca Kadaga:[577] First female lawyer to open a private practice firm in Uganda (c. 1980s)
Monica Kalyegira Mugenyi:[582] First (Ugandan) female to serve as the Principal Judge of the First Instance Division, East African Court of Justice (2015)
Jane Frances Abodo:[583] First female to serve as the Director of Public Prosecutions in Uganda (2020)
Faridah Shamilah Bukirwa and Celia Nagawa:[584] First Muslim females to serve as Judges of the High Court of Uganda (2023)
Phyllis Mackendrick (c. 1928):[585] First female lawyer in Rhodesia admitted to the High Court [former name of Zambia and Zimbabwe]
Hildah Chibomba, Mugeni Mulenga, and Anne Sitali:[597] First females to serve as Judges of the Constitutional Court of Zambia (2016). Chibomba was also the first female to serve as President of the Constitutional Court of Zambia.
Sara Larios (2011):[598] First American female admitted to practice law in Zambia
Lillian Fulata Shawa:[599] First female to serve as the Director of Public Prosecutions in Zambia (2016)
Linda Kasonde:[600] First female elected as the President of the Law Society of Zambia (2016)
Phyllis Mackendrick (c. 1928):[585] First female lawyer in Rhodesia admitted to the High Court [former name of Zambia and Zimbabwe]
Kelello Justina Mafoso-Guni:[254][601][602] First female magistrate in Zimbabwe (1980). Later on in her career she became the first female lawyer and Judge of the High Court in Lesotho. She was also the first female to serve on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (2006).
Rita Makarau:[607][608][609] First female appointed as the Judge President of the High Court of Zimbabwe (2006)
Anne-Marie Gowora, Elizabeth Gwaunza, Antonia Guvava, Rita Makarau and Susan Mavangira:[610][611][612][613][614] First females to serve as Judges of the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe (2013)
Dezalay, Sara (25 August 2015). "Les juristes en Afrique: entre trajectoires d'État, sillons d'empire et mondialisation". Politique Africaine. 138 (2): 5–23. doi:10.3917/polaf.138.0005.
"Hon. Florence Rita Arrey". IAWJ: Pioneering Women Judges on International Courts. 2014-11-13. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
Mrs. Collin (first name unknown, though her husband was the Director of Aeronautics at that time) was registered in one of the only two bar associations established in the French Congo in 1930 (the other being in Élisabethville [now Lubumbashi].
Thabit was the first woman to practice before the Egyptian Mixed Courts in 1929 whereas al-Ayyubi was the first woman registered to practice before the National Courts in 1933.
Dlamini, Welcome. "All is not well - Judge Qinisile". observer.org.sz. Archived from the original on 2014-11-30. Retrieved 2016-09-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
"Les Membres Actuels" (in French). Cour Constitutionnelle de la Republique Gabonaise. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
"Charlene Aimesa Reeves". www.tlcafrica.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
Fomba, M. (2013, December 19). La profession de magistrat au Mali. La difficile quête d’indépendance du juge. UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX UNIVERSITÉ MONTESQUIEU – BORDEAUX IV / SCIENCES PO BORDEAUX ECOLE DOCTORALE DE SCIENCE POLITIQUE DE BORDEAUX - E.D. 208 LAM-Les Afriques dans le Monde (UMR 5115 du CNRS).
civilsocietyforum2014 (2014-06-09). "Participant Biographies". The U.S.-Africa Civil Society Forum. Archived from the original on 2016-10-14. Retrieved 2016-09-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Gool (d. 1963) was the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Cape Town's law school (1962) and to be called to the Cape Town Bar (1963).