Gender and Judging

(Hardback)

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Does gender make a difference to the way the judiciary works and should work Or is gender-blindness a built-in prerequisite of judicial objectivity If gender does make a difference, how might this be defined These are the key questions posed in this collection of essays, by some 30 authors from the following countries; Argentina, Cambodia, Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, the Netherlands, the Philippines, South Africa, Switzerland, Syria and the United States. The contributions draw on various theoretical approaches, including gender, feminist and sociological theories. The book's pressing topicality is underlined by the fact that well into the modern era male opposition to women's admission to, and progress within, the judicial profession has been largely based on the argument that their very gender programmes women to show empathy, partiality and gendered prejudice - in short essential qualities running directly counter to the need for judicial objectivity. It took until the last century for women to begin to break down such seemingly insurmountable barriers. And even now, there are a number of countries where even this first step is still waiting to happen. In all of them, there remains a more or less pronounced glass ceiling to women's judicial careers.

Reviews

The strength of this book lies in its wealth of empirical data and stories told. Readers learn a great deal about the workings of organisations and professions as well as of the very different legal systems in the world. A must for scholars of the sociology of law. (Translation of the German original) -- Eva Kocher * Zeitschrift fr Rechtssoziologie, Volume 33 *
The editors have done an admirable job treating a topic of this breadth and complexity in a single work.(...)this volume presents works of sufficient diversity to provide the reader with an impressive cross-section of information. -- Hon. Thadd A. Blizzard * Hastings Women's Law Journal *
This book is most likely to appeal to those who want to learn something about female judges and gender diversity within legal systems across the world. It will also interest those who are in gender studies. -- Tara W. Stricko, Political Science, Kennesaw State University. * Law and Politics Book Review *

Author Bio

Ulrike Schultz is a senior academic in law at the FernUniversitt in Hagen, Germany. She heads the International Working Group on the Comparative Study of Legal Professions and has been a member of the Oati International Institute for the Sociology of Law Governing Board since 2006. Gisela Shaw, Emeritus Professor of German Studies at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, has worked and published in philosophy, literature and legal sociology.