List of first women lawyers and judges in Asia

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This is a list of the first women lawyers and judges in Asia. 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.

Afghanistan

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Maria Bashir: First female prosecutor in Afghanistan (1994)

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic)

Bahrain

  • Fatima Ibrahim Al-Dalal:[42] First female to earn a law degree in Bahrain (1970)
  • Lulwa Al Awadhi and Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa (1979):[43] First female lawyers in Bahrain
  • Zahra Ahmed Khalaf:[42] First female lawyer to enter the Board of Directors of the Bahrain Bar Association (1981)
  • Sheikha Noura bint Abdullah Al Khalifa and Mona Jasem al-Kawari:[42] First two women appointed as Deputy Attorneys General in Bahrain (2003)
  • Amal Ahmed Abul:[42] First female to serve as a public prosecutor in Bahrain (2003)
  • Mona Jasem al-Kawari:[44] First female judge in Bahrain (upon her appointment as a Judge of the High Civil Court of Bahrain in 2006)
  • Sheikha Noura bint Abdullah Al Khalifa:[45] First female to hold the position of Chief Prosecutor in Bahrain (2007)
  • Jamila Ali Salman:[42] First female to serve as the President of the Bahrain Bar Association (2007)
  • Amina Issa Abdullah:[45][46][47][48] First female in Bahrain to serve as a Public Prosecutor in the Juvenile Courts (2006), Chief Public Prosecutor with the rank of judge in the High Court (2009), and judicial inspector (2019)
  • Dhouha Ibrahim al-Zayani:[49][50][51][52] First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Bahrain (2007-2016)
  • Fatima Faisal Hubail:[49][53] First female appointed as a Judge of the Lower Civil Court of Bahrain (2008) and a member of the Supreme Judicial Council of Bahrain (2013)

Bangladesh

Bhutan

Brunei

  • Hayati binti Mohammad Salleh (1980):[77][78][79][80][81] First Brunei Malay woman called to the English Bar. She later became the first female to serve as a judge in Brunei (1984), Chief Magistrate, Chief Registrar/Intermediate Court Judge (1998-1991), Justice of the Supreme Court of Brunei (2001), and Attorney General of Brunei (2009).
  • Nur ‘Azizah binti Dato Seri Paduka Haji Ahmad:[82] First female to serve as the President of the Law Society of Brunei (2024)

Cambodia

China

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Tcheng Yu-hsui: First female lawyer and judge in China
  • Flora Rosenberg:[97][98] First female (a Frenchwoman) to practice law in China (c. 1921)
  • Tcheng Yu-hsiu (1926):[99][100][101] First Chinese female to earn a law degree (1925) and become a lawyer in China. She was also the first Chinese female judge (due to serving on a French concession court during the 1920s), as well as the first female president of a local court (1927; though she did not take office).
  • Kathleen Hoahing (1927):[102][103][104] First female solicitor in China
  • Ma Yuan:[105][106] First female to serve as the Vice President of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China (1985)
  • Xian Qiuqin:[107][108] First Dai female to practice as a lawyer and serve as the president of a court in China
  • Wei Qihong (c. 1990s):[109] First female lawyer of the Va nationality in China
  • Patty Yuen (1992):[110] First female lawyer of Chinese descent in the Netherlands
  • Hu Kehui:[111] First female prosecutor in China (upon becoming the Deputy Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate in 1998)
  • Xue Hanqin:[112] First Chinese female appointed as a Judge of the International Court of Justice (2010)
  • Yang Jin (1985):[113][114] First female lawyer in Tibet

Hong Kong

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Ellen Li: First female Justice of the Peace in Hong Kong (1948)

Macau

Georgia

Abkhazia

  • Nelly Eshba:[154] First female lawyer in Abkhazia
  • Alla Avidzba:[155] First Abkhaz (female) judge (1975). She would later become the first female Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Abkhazia (2000).
  • Kvitsinia Fatima Alekseevna:[156][157] First female to serve as a Judge of the Arbitration Court of Abkhazia (1997)
  • Liudmila Khojashvili, Diana Pilia, and Alisa Bigvava[158][159] First females appointed as Judges of the Constitutional Court of Abkhazia (2018). Khojashvili is the first female to serve as the Deputy Chairperson (2018) and Chairperson (2021).[160]

South Ossetia

India

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Anna Chandy: First female judge in India (1937)

Indonesia

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Maria Farida Indrati: First female Judge of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia (2008)

Iran

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Mehrangiz Manouchehrian, first female lawyer in Iran (1958)
  • Khadijeh Keshavarz (1937), Yekaterina Saeedkhvanian (1949), and Mehrangiz Manouchehrian (1958):[203][204][205] First female lawyers respectively in Iran. Manouchehrian is considered the first woman to actually practice law in Iran.[206]
  • Meymant Chubak, Adineh Bani Mahd Rankouhi, Manijeh Farzad, Azarnoosh Malek, and Homayoundokht Homayoun:[207][208] First female judges in Iran (1968)
  • Shirin Ebadi:[209][210] First female to serve as a presiding judge in Iran (1975)
  • Mina Torabi:[211][212] First female to serve as a Deputy Prosecutor in Iran (upon becoming one for the Lorestan Province in 1983)
  • Roya Najafzadeh (1971):[207] First female prosecutor in Iran (1996)
  • Turan Shahriari (1963):[213][214][215] First female lawyer of a religious minority (Zoroastrian) to serve on the Board of Directors of the Iran Bar Association (2005)
  • Nadia Motraghi:[216] First female of Iranian descent appointed as a King's Counsel at the Employment Bar (UK; 2023)

Iraq

Israel

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Rosa Ginossar: First female lawyer in Israel (1930)

Japan

See Women in law in Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Korea

Kuwait

  • Badria al-Awadhi:[291][292] First female to study law in Kuwait (c. 1967)
  • Suad al-Jassim (1973):[293][294][295] First female lawyer in Kuwait
  • Lulwa Ibrahim Al-Ghanim, Hillal Waleed Al-Duraei, Roaa Essam Al-Tabtabai, Bashayer Saleh Al-Raqdan, Basheer Abdul-Jalil Shah Muhammad, Sharifa Abdulaziz Al-Mubarak, Anwar Ahmed Al Bin Ali, Sanabel Badr Al-Houti, Israa Faisal Salim, Fatima Faisal Al-Kandari, Lulwa Khaled Al-Amhoujm Fatima Abdel-Moneim Saghir, Fatima Yaqoub Al-Farhan and Farah Farid Al-Ajeel:[296] First women appointed as judges in Kuwait (2021)
  • Munira Nabil Al-Waqayan:[297] First female prosecutor to plead a case before a Kuwaiti criminal court (2021). She was one of the 22 female prosecutors appointed for the first time in Kuwait in 2014.[298]
  • Munira Nabil Al-Waqayan, Noura al-Othman, Ghanima al-Sarrawi and Nouf al-Saeed:[299][300] First females to serve as Public Prosecution Directors in Kuwait (2024)

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Lebanon

  • Salima Abi Rashed (1914):[307] First female lawyer in Lebanon
  • Paulette Ameslend Tamer (1931):[308] First female law intern of French origin registered in Lebanon
  • Nina Trad (1932):[309][310] First female lawyer registered in Lebanon
  • Katina Gholam and Georgette Arbid Chidiac:[311][312][313] First female judges in Lebanon (1965)
  • Jacqueline Massabki:[314] First female elected to the council of the Lebanese Bar Association (1965)
  • Arlette Jreissati:[315][316] First female judge in Lebanon to have received a formal judicial education (1973)
  • Feryal Hussein Dalloul:[317][318][319] First female member of the Supreme Judicial Council of Lebanon (2006)
  • Micheline Braidy and Janet Nosworthy:[320] First females to serve as Judges of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (2011)
  • Amal Haddad:[307] First female to serve as the President of a Bar Association in Lebanon (upon becoming President of the Beirut Bar Association in 2011). Haddad is considered the first female to lead a bar association in the Arab world.[321]
  • Suheir Harake:[322] First female member of the Supreme Judicial Council elected as a President of a Court of Cassation of Lebanon chamber (2012)
  • Ivana Hrdličková:[320] First female to serve as the President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (2013)
  • Mireille Emile Najm:[323] First female to serve as a Judge of the Constitutional Council of Lebanon (2021)

Malaysia

Maldives

Mongolia

  • Binjelkh Tserenbaljir (c. 1963):[347] First female lawyer in Mongolia, as well as the first female assistant procurator of Mongolia's State Prosecutor's Office (1968)
  • Dolgorsuren Khash-Erdene:[348] First female prosecutor trained abroad by the General Prosecutor's Office of Mongolia
  • T. Enkhtuya:[349] First female appointed as a Judge of the Aimag Court (1992). She later became the first female Chief Justice of the Civil Court of Appeal and the Court of Appeals of the First Civil Prosecutor's Office in Mongolia.
  • Tserennadmid Narangiin:[350][351] First female Prosecutor General of the Aimag (upon serving as the Prosecutor General of the Selenge Aimag Prosecutor's Office from 1993 to 2001)
  • Janlavyn Byambajav:[352][353] First female to serve as a member of the Constitutional Court of Mongolia (1996)
  • Alimantsetseg Sodon:[351][354] First female appointed as a Deputy Prosecutor General of Mongolia (2019)
  • Renchindorji Ononchime:[355] First female to serve as the Chairman of the Judicial General Council of Mongolia (2022)

Myanmar (Burma)

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Pwa Hmee: First female lawyer in Myanmar (Burma) (1925)

Nepal

  • Shanti Devi Thapa (1961):[374][375][376] First female lawyer in Nepal
  • Ambika Acharya and Sharada Shrestha:[377][378][379] First female judges in Nepal (1966; Shrestha was appointed to the Land Reform Special Court that same year). In 1967, Shrestha became the first female appointed as a Judge of the District Court in Nepal.
  • Sushila Singh Shilu:[377][380][381] First female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal (c. 2001). She was also the first female to serve as a First Advocate and Senior Advocate in Nepal.[382]
  • Sushila Karki (1978):[383][384] First female appointed as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal (2016)
  • Mohna Ansari (2003):[385] First female Muslim lawyer in Nepal

Oman

  • Suad bint Mohammed al Lamkiya:[386][387][388][389] First female law graduate, legal advisor (lawyer) [1974], and prosecutor in Oman[390][391]
  • Kamilia al Busaidy (1997):[392] First registered female lawyer in Oman
  • Sahar Askalan:[393] First Omani woman to set up a law firm in Oman
  • Jalila bint Sulaiman al-Rawahiya:[394][395] First female to serve as a Director of Public Prosecutions in Oman (Barka; 2008). She was one of the first 16 women appointed as a prosecutor in Oman in 2004.[396][397]

Pakistan

Palestine

  • Nechama Feinstein-Pukhachevskaya:[418] First female judge in Mandatory Palestine (1919). She was also considered the first female judge in Western Asia.
  • Brana Rashal:[419] First female that petitioned to practice law in Mandatory Palestine, though she was unsuccessful (1920)
  • Freda Slutzkin (1930):[420] First female lawyer in Mandatory Palestine
  • Saada Fawzi Khalil Kamal Dajani (1967):[421][422][423] First female to become a lawyer, prosecutor (1971), judge (1973), Justice of the Supreme Court (1995), and Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court (2011) in Palestine
  • Iman Naser Al-Deen:[424][425][426][427] First female appointed as a judge in the Palestinian territories (1982), Senior Judge of the High Judicial Council, and vice-president of the Supreme Judicial Council in Palestine
  • Kholoud Al-Faqih (2001) and Asmahan Al-Wuheidi:[44][428][429][430][431] First females appointed as Judges of the Sharia Court in Palestine (2009)[432]
  • Somoud Al-Damiri:[431][433] First female appointed as the Chief Prosecutor of Personal Status for the Upper Council of Sharia Courts in Palestine (2010)
  • Marwa Adawi:[434] First Palestinian (female) lawyer to train at the International Criminal Court (2011)
  • Scarlet Bishara: First female appointed as a judge to a Christian Ecclessiastical Court (Lutheran Court of the First Instance) in Palestine (2015)[435]
  • Tahreer Hammad:[431][436] First female appointed as a marriage officiant (Sharia marriage judge) in Palestine (2015)
  • Najwa Abdullah:[437] First female to serve as a Chief Public Prosecutor in Palestine [upon her appointment to the role in the Salfit Governorate, Palestine in 2016]
  • Hana Taraz:[438][439] First Christian female lawyer in Palestine to plead before the Islamic court (2018)

Philippines

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Cecilia Muñoz-Palma: First female Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (1973)

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

  • Dania Aboaloa:[468][469] One of the first 49 female law graduates in Saudi Arabia (2008)[470]
  • Souad al-Shammari:[471][472] First female authorized to defend female cases in the Saudi courts (c. 2012)
  • Arwa Al-Hujaili (2010):[473][474][475] First female trainee lawyer in Saudi Arabia (2013)
  • Bayan Mahmoud Al-Zahran, Sara Aalamri, Jehan Qurban and Ameera Quqani (2013):[476][477][478] First female lawyers in Saudi Arabia. Al-Zahran later founded the first all-woman law firm in Saudi Arabia in 2014.
  • Nasreen Alissa: one of the first female lawyers to be granted a license to practice law in Saudi Arabia.[479]
  • Shaimaa Sadeq Al-Jibran:[480][481][482][483][484] First female arbitrator (commercial court) in Saudi Arabia (2016)
  • Hajar Al-Ati and Renad Melsi:[485] Two of the first 50 women appointed as investigators (prosecutors) for the Public Prosecution–Saudi Arabia (2019)
  • Ethar Al-Daej:[486] First female appointed as a member of the Saudi Bar Association Board (2022)

Singapore

Sri Lanka

Syria

  • Fatima Murad (1932) and Bouran Al-Tarazi (1937):[513][514][515] First female lawyers in Syria. Murad and Maqbool Al-Shalak were the first females to earn a law degree in Syria (the latter in 1944).[516]
  • Insaf al-Borai:[517][518][519] First female judge in the United Arab Republic (1958; a republic signifying the union of Egypt and Syria from 1958 to 1971)
  • Ghāda Murād:[520][521][522][523] First female judge in Syria (1975). She was also the first female prosecutor in Syria.
  • Salwa Kadib:[524] First female to serve as the President of a Court of Assize in Syria (1997) and the Economics Security State Court of Syria (1999)
  • Amna Meni:[525] First female to serve as the president of a bar association in Syria (2009)
  • Jamila Muslim Al-Sharbaji:[524] First female to serve as a Judge of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Syria (2012)
  • Zahira Bashmani:[524][526][527] First female judge appointed as the President of the Counter-Terrorism Court of Syria (2017)
  • Khadija Badrakhan:[528] First female judge to serve as the President of the First Court of Appeals in Syria (c. 2017)

Taiwan

Tajikistan

Thailand

Timor-Leste

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Maria Natércia Gusmão Pereira: First female judge in Timor-Leste (2000)

Turkey

Turkmenistan

United Arab Emirates

  • Samira Gargash (1991):[421][597][598] First female lawyer in the United Arab Emirates
  • Alia Muhammad Saeed Al Kaabi and Atqa Awad Ali Al Kathiri:[599][600] First females appointed as public prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates (2007)
  • Siti Norma Yaakob and Khulood al Dhaheri:[601][602][603] First female judges in the United Arab Emirates (2008). The former was appointed to the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Court.[604]
  • Fatima Abdullah Al-Mal:[605] First female criminal judge in the United Arab Emirates (2015)
  • Khadija Khamis Al-Malas:[606][607] First female to serve as an appellate court judge in the United Arab Emirates (2019)
  • Salama Rashid Al-Ketbi:[606][607] First female to serve as a Judge of the First Instance Court in the United Arab Emirates (2019)
  • Alia Muhammad Saeed Al Kaabi:[608] First female to serve as a Public Prosecution Director in the United Arab Emirates (upon her appointment as the Director of the Family Prosecution Office in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi)
  • Al-Yazia Al-Hammadi:[609] First female criminal judge in the Court of First Instance in the United Arab Emirates
  • Maha Al Mheiri:[610] First female appointed as a common law judge in the United Arab Emirates (2021)

Uzbekistan

Vietnam

  • Bùi Thị Cẩm (c. 1936):[83][84][85][86] First Vietnamese female to study law and become a lawyer in Vietnam. She was also considered the first female lawyer in Indochina [which included Cambodia and Laos].
  • Vũ Thị Châu:[619][620] First female judge in Vietnam (c. 1950s)
  • Maj. Ann Wansley:[621] First female judge advocate in the U.S. Army, Vietnam (1966–1967)
  • Le Thi Phuong Hang:[622] First female to serve as a Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam (1979-1988)
  • Nguyễn Thị Tuyết:[623] First female to embark on a legal career in the history of the Military Courts of Vietnam (c. 1980s)
  • Nguyễn Thị Hoàng Anh:[624] First female (ambassador) appointed as a Justice of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam (2015)
  • Pham Thi Duyen and Pham Hong Loan:[625] First females to serve as deputy chief justices of a family and juvenile court in Vietnam (2016)
  • Nguyen Thi Quynh Anh:[626] First female to serve as the Vice President of the Vietnam Bar Federation (c. 2023) (Mrs. Ngo Ba Thanh served as vice chair of the Vietnam Lawyer's Association in the 1980s-1990s.[627])

Yemen

  • Hamida Zakaria:[628][629] First female judge in Yemen (1968)
  • Raqia Humaidan (1980):[630][631][632][633][634] First female lawyer in Yemen
  • Shada Nasser (1989):[635][636][637] First female lawyer to not cover her up face while practicing before Yemen's courts. She was also the first female lawyer in Sana’a, as well as the first female to develop and head an all-female law firm in the same city (1996).
  • Angham Faisal Qaid:[638] First female to serve as the presiding judge of a Yemeni court (c. 1990)
  • Samia Abdullah Saeed:[639][640][641] First female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic (Yemen) (2006)
  • Main Al Obaydi:[642] First female appointed to the Council of the Bar Association of Yemen (overseeing the Human Rights and Civil Liberties Committee)
  • Sabah Alwani:[643] First female to serve as a member of the Supreme Judicial Council of Yemen (2022)

See also

References

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