One of Malaysia's top judges said a lack of female appointments to Islamic courts was leading to prejudicial treatment of women in cases.

The Chief Judge of Malaya, Siti Norma Yaakob, called for more women to be appointed to sharia or religious courts, which implement Islamic laws, and for greater gender awareness among its judges.

"Women are often denied access to the rights and justice already granted to them in the state enactments because of entrenched prejudices in the implementation of the (religious) law," she told a convention of the International Federation of Women Lawyers in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Predominantly Muslim-Malaysia has a civil legal system which runs in parallel to state-based sharia courts, which also have jurisdiction over Muslims.

Siti Norma said a significant percentage of cases heard in sharia courts involved family law where women were parties to the disputes. But women seeking redress in those courts had a "litany of complaints" regarding unfair treatment during the hearing of their cases.

"Not all court officials or religious departments are unfair or insensitive to women's problems," she was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency.

Overwhelming picture

"But, the overwhelming picture that has emerged from these long-held complaints is that women are often denied access to the rights and justice already granted to them in the state enactments because of prejudices in the implementation of the law," she said.

Siti Norma, the first-ever female chief judge of Malaya, also called for women to better understand the law and their legal rights.

"Campaigns and advocacy on women's rights couched in the most culturally sensitive manner will go a long way towards achieving the desired output of adherence to the implementation of the law," she said.

The five-day conference which started Monday brings together 200 delegates from 25 countries and hopes to highlight the plight of women and girls on issues such as human trafficking, and to promote gender rights.