E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2 page 45 Only liberal Judaism accepts the idea that women can become rabbis.252 Also, under the laws of some religious communities of Israel, women are barred from serving as judges of religious courts.253 (iii) Islam 181. Islam has no clergy but only functions from which women are excluded.254 The ulema (interpreters of the law), qadis (judges), caliph (head of the community) and imams (prayer leaders) are functions reserved to men. Women’s functions are limited to the private and domestic spheres.255 In some countries, however, the courts have, in line with a modernist tradition of the State and society, rejected the Sharia argument as relied on by a plaintiff seeking to have entry to the notarial profession denied to a successful female candidate in a national competitive examination. The administrative court’s ruling was based on the principle of gender equality in rights and obligations, as established in the constitution of the country involved.256 182. In some cultures, women do not participate in some rituals, including public prayers in mosques. Women who attend remain in a place adjacent to the main room, from where they cannot see the preacher or be seen. In some countries, no special area is set aside for them and they are therefore denied access to mosques.257 Such exclusion is explained by the belief that menstruating women are impure and a source of pollution; yet all religions defend the sacred against pollution from female blood.258 G. Aggravated discrimination 183. Aggravated discrimination affects women as persons of a different sex and as members of minority religious and/or ethnic groups. Discrimination can thus be compounded twofold or threefold—sexist, religious and ethnic—and may even assume a genocidal dimension and become part of a ruthless and cynical strategy of ethnic cleansing. This issue was examined in detail in the aforementioned study prepared by the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance, entitled “Racial discrimination and religious discrimination: identification and measures” (A/CONF.189/PC/1/7, in particular paragraphs 109 ff.). In some States, women can in fact suffer multiple discrimination as a result of economic crisis or religious extremism in society or because of institutional attitudes. The Commission on Human Rights, in its resolution 1999/39 of 26 April 1999 on the implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, repeatedly highlights discrimination and violence against religious minorities, “arbitrary application of legislative … measures” and “practices which violate the human rights of women”. There are many cases to illustrate such double and triple forms of discrimination. 184. In the Sudan, for example, there have been alleged violations of the religious, ethnic and sexual identity of Orthodox Copt women in the north of the country (students, civil servants and girls), who were reportedly flogged and arrested for trading in or consuming alcohol and subjected to forced Islamization and in particular to the provisions of the Islamic dress code (Law No. 2 of 1992) which make it compulsory to wear clothing conforming to what are described as Islamic moral standards (E/CN.4/1995/91, para. 93; and A/51/542/Add.2, paras. 44, 51 and 140).