Opening Remarks – Annual International Law Conference on the Status of Women

By Muhammad U. Faridi, President, New York City Bar Association

New York City Bar Association

March 10, 2026

Good evening, members of the judiciary, colleagues, and friends.

My name is Muhammad Faridi, and I’m the president of the New York City Bar Association.  It is a great privilege to welcome you tonight on behalf of the association.

Before I begin, I should acknowledge what many of you may already be thinking: why is a man giving the opening remarks at an event celebrating women judges?  I’m here to continue the tradition of men speaking on topics that they know nothing about.

The honest answer is that when the program organizers asked me to speak, I briefly considered declining for precisely that reason.  But then I realized something important: progress toward equality requires allies, institutions, and sometimes even slightly nervous male bar association presidents willing to step aside, listen, and use their platform to elevate others.

So tonight, my role is a simple one: to welcome you, to acknowledge the remarkable women we honor, and—perhaps most importantly—to recognize the long journey that has brought us here.

And it has been a long journey.

The New York City Bar Association itself has not always stood on the right side of that history.  When this institution was founded in 1870, women were not permitted to become members.  It took decades before women were admitted to the association.  It wasn’t until 1994 that we had our first woman president.  That’s Barbara Paul Robinson—you see her portrait on the wall right there.

That history matters.  Institutions like ours—institutions devoted to justice—are not immune from the prejudices of their time.  What defines them is whether they evolve, whether they confront their own past, and whether they strive to build something better.

Tonight is part of that continuing effort.

The presence of so many distinguished women judges in this room—and the work of those we honor this evening—reflects not only extraordinary individual achievement but also the steady expansion of opportunity within legal systems around the world.

But it would be impossible to gather at a moment like this and speak about justice and international law without acknowledging the world beyond this room.

We meet tonight at a time when the international legal order feels deeply strained.  The situation in Iran is on all of our minds.  That is where courageous women have risked everything to demand dignity and equality, and where our own country has launched a war in violation of the U.N. Charter.  There continues to be unimaginable human suffering in Gaza.  The war in Ukraine just entered its fourth year.

The point I want to make is that the rule of law might be more fragile today than any other time in modern history.  Yet it is a promise that must be defended, again and again.

In moments like these, the role of judges—and particularly independent judges—becomes even more essential.  Courts are often the last institutions standing when political systems falter.  Judges safeguard rights when majorities grow impatient with them.  They insist on evidence when rhetoric runs hot.  They remind societies that law must prevail over force.

And women judges have played a particularly powerful role in that story.  Across jurisdictions and legal traditions, women on the bench have broadened the perspectives of courts, strengthened public confidence in the judiciary, and helped ensure that justice reflects the lived experience of the societies it serves.  Their presence has changed not only who interprets the law—but how the law understands the world.  When courts reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, justice becomes more credible, more humane, and more resilient.

So, tonight, we honor individuals who embody the very best of the judiciary and the global human rights community—women whose careers remind us that justice is not self-executing.  It requires integrity, courage, and often extraordinary personal sacrifice.

Thank you for joining us this evening and for being part of this important conversation.

It is now my pleasure to introduce the Chair of the United Nations Committee, Sophia Murashkovsky Romma, who is indeed one of the honorees tonight, and who will also say a few words.