Women and judicial appointments

Abstract

The six papers in this special issue deal with various aspects of women in the judiciary in six different countries: two contributions are from sub-Saharan Africa: South Africa and Nigeria, two from Europe: Northern Ireland and Spain and two from very different parts of Asia: Turkey and the Philippines. The papers on Africa and Europe have been presented at an Expert Seminar on Gender and the Judiciary organised by Tabeth Masengu under the auspices of the Human Rights Centre at Ghent University in Belgium on the 27th of April 2018. The two papers on Asia have been developed in the context of a project on Women Judges in Muslim Courts of Law which was an International Research Collaborative for the international socio-legal meeting in Mexico-City in 2017. Adding new countries, this special issue of the International Journal of the Legal Profession complements other international comparative collections on gender issues in the judiciary which have been published in the past years. These include the comprehensive volume with 30 contributions on 19 countries “Gender and Judging” (Schultz and Shaw 2013a), two special issues of the International Journal of the Legal Profession “Women in the Judiciary” (Schultz and Shaw 2012), and “Gender and Judicial Education” (Schultz et al. 2016); and a collection on “Women Judges in the Muslim World” (Lindbekk and Sonneveld 2017) as well as an upcoming issue of the Onati Socio-Legal Online Series on Gender in Muslim courts of Law. National publications are innumerable and still new research projects on related issues are launched, e.g. at the University of Bergen/ Norway on “Women on the Bench. The Role of Female Judges in Fragile States”. Also documentary films on women judges have been produced: e.g. on Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the feminist judge at the American Supreme Court, “RBG” and “On the Basis of Sex” (both 2018), “The Judge” (2018) about the first female Sharía Court judge in Palestine, “Lady Judges in Pakistan” (2013) by Livia and Marius Holden, “Courting Justice” (2010) by Ruth Cowan about Women Judges in South Africa after Apartheid, “Sisters in Law” (2005) about women judges in Kameron. A broad range of subjects related to women in the judiciary are covered in all the mentioned publications. These include topics such as access and careers in the judiciary, dealing with the question: Do women have equal chances in the judiciary, do they have equal representation in higher positions or do they hit the famous glass ceiling? Are they accepted by their colleagues and by clients at court, male and female clients? Is there indecent behaviour and/or discrimination against female judges? Is it easy or particularly difficult for women in the judiciary to find a work/family-life balance? What are impeding factors? What are the prevailing gender images in their societies? Is there a relation between participation of women in the judiciary and prestige and pay? Do women judge differently? In what way may gender, age, marital-parental status, position and race/ethnicity influence their decision making (and of course that of their male counterparts)? Can class or other differences in background create a divide between the elite women judges and the “ordinary” women taking their cases to court? Do women judges have a more caring attitude to clients? What are the expectations from people at court towards female judges?