State fatwa councils are getting in the way of women from becoming syariah court judges, laments Syariah Chief Justice Ibrahim Lembut.

Ibrahim said currently only the Federal Territories, Malacca, Perlis, Kelantan and Sabah allow women to sit on the syariah court bench.

He said while the national fatwa council ruled that women could become syariah judges, the states are not bound by this edict.

"Some states don't want to accept women judges despite the national fatwa council saying it was permissible.

"We can't do anything because state fatwa councils are the highest authority in the state," said Ibrahim ( photo ), who is also the Syariah Judiciary Department director-general.

He was speaking at a press conference in Bangi today, after a dialogue session with department officers.

Ibrahim said in many cases, women were more qualified than men to become judges and to move up the ranks.

"Women are not given the opportunity to get promoted, eventhough their CGPAs (cumulative grade point average) are better than men's," he said.

Ibrahim said the Syariah Judiciary Department has been fighting to get women as syariah judges since 2012.

He said the ideal arrangement would be to have an equal number of male and female judges in the syariah courts.