Women now make up the majority in Uruguay's Supreme Court

For the first time in history, women make up the majority within Uruguay’s five-person Supreme Court of Justice.

After taking the oath of office before the General Assembly on Tuesday, Justice Doris Morales joined the Court’s President John Pérez and Associate Justices Tabaré Sosa, Elena Martínez Rosso and Bernadette Minvielle on the bench of the nation’s highest court.

"I, Doris Perla Morales Martínez, pledge on my honor to loyally perform the office entrusted to me and to keep and defend the Constitution of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay," the magistrate said on Tuesday during her swearing in ceremony.

Morales first joined the Judiciary in 1989 as a legal judge in the department of Paysandú and later held the positions of legal judge in 1994, family legal judge in 1995 and minister of the Labor Court of Appeals from 2003 until her recent ascension.

The other two female Supreme Court justices, Martinez Rosso and Minvielle, took office in February of 2018 and 2020, respectively.

Martínez Rosso entered the magistracy on December 11, 1981, as Justice of the Peace of the 1st Section of Colonia. Beginning in March 2002, she served as judge of the 6th Civil Court of Appeals, a position she held until her appointment to the Supreme Court.

Minvielle holds a PhD in Law and Social Sciences from the University of the Republic and has had a long and distinguished legal career in positions including secretary of the Letrado Court, deputy prosecutor, departmental prosecutor, judge of Montevideo and minister of the Court of Appeals.

Uruguay is currently the only South American country where women make up a majority in the highest court. The only other Latin American country where women are represented at the same level is Cuba, where women compose 62% of Supreme Court justices.