Legal Profession His Honour Geoffrey Kamil CBE 30 November 2011  There are many challenges obstructing the way toward guaranteeing the rights of minority women. The most important of them all is access to education, which is closely linked to effective participation in social, economic and cultural life.  Minorities often face discrimination in employment, in the work place and in gaining access to credit. In the current times of economic hardship minorities, having struggled to obtain employment, are frequently the first to lose those jobs.  This exclusion which is often based on discriminatory grounds has the effect of maintaining the status quo, preventing upward mobility and keeping minorities in the lower echelons of society.  It is well-established that in addition to providing some economic security and advancement, education offers a greater likelihood of obtaining employment and encourages broader social advancement.  However, education is not always enough. In order for minorities to contribute and gain access to practice in the disciplines they are well trained for, more needs to be done by States in discharging their obligations to eliminate racial discrimination and ensuring equality of treatment  In some countries, access to a judicial position has often been seen as a bar to those who did not fit a 'stereo-male-type', thus apparently ruling out anyone who is a woman and particularly if belonging to an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority group.  As set out in several human rights documents, measures such as affirmative action also referred to as positive measures or positive action time bound, monitored and specifically designed to address systematic, historic and institutionalised