SC allows women judges to attend online meet with global counterparts

The Supreme Court (SC) has allowed the members of the Philippine Women Judges Association (PWJA) to attend the three-day online biennial conference of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) starting May 7.
The 15th conference of the IAWJ will be hosted by the New Zealand Association of Women Judges. This year’s theme is “Celebrating Diversity.”
In a circular, Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez said the attendance of PWJA members on May 7 will be on official time “provided that their respective court calendars are properly managed and the parties are duly notified of any cancelled hearing.”
SC Senior Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas Bernabe is PWJA president.
PWJA secretary, Judge Josefina E. Siscar, was directed to submit to the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) a report 10 days after the conference with complete list of all Philippine judges who attended.
A search with Google showed that the “IAWJ was founded in 1991 after fifty female judges from around the world were invited to participate in the tenth anniversary meeting of the United States National Association of Women Judges.”
Published reports stated that the first IAWJ meeting was held in the United States in October 1992 with 82 judges from 42 countries in attendance.