Women engaged in law in Africa, and Muslim women in particular, have a long history of participation in the over 19 currently existing general professional organizations for lawyers and judges. Some of these same professional women have also organized themselves around their Muslim identity.

Women's rights as human rights came into their own in preparations for the Vienna World Human Rights conference sponsored by the United Nations Commission for Human Rights (now the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) in 1993. The move re…