In Search of Female Role Models in the Contemporary Czech Judiciary: The Appointments of Women to the Czech Constitutional Court

Lucie Vodvářková

Ph.D. Candidate, Masaryk University.

The volume, edited by Rosalind Dixon and Erin F. Delaney, examines female chief justices and constitutional court presidents worldwide and their contributions to feminist legal change, judicial leadership, gender equality, and the advancement of women in the legal profession. The book calls them judicial heroines. However, like the heroines of ancient myths, judicial heroines in this sense are nowhere to be found in contemporary Czechia. Even though legends can be told about the chief justices of the past, as David Kosař and Katarína Šipulová do in Chapter 12 of the book, there are currently no female chief justices in the Czech judicial system and they are not expected in the near future. Young Czech female jurists starting their court careers are thus forced to look at other positions of power within the apex courts when looking for female empowerment. While there is currently a female vice-president at the Supreme Administrative Court, the position of power getting the public spotlight with the highest concentration of women is currently the Czech Constitutional Court (CCC). At the moment, there are five female justices present on the 15-member bench. In the following paragraphs, I briefly discuss the question of the CCC as the center of female judicial leadership in the Czech Republic and what stands in the way of more women accessing these positions. I will outline answers to these questions using information I gathered during my ongoing research on the role of gender in the selection of judges of the CCC, based on interviews with its current and former female judges.

CCC judges are assigned cases as judges-rapporteurs and have the right to express their own dissenting opinion. Thus, they possess the power to promote ideas within the system. Especially in recent years, public attention towards the Court and its individual members has been increasing. These factors create circumstances, where a woman in the position of a CCC judge can be regarded as a female judicial leader and, similarly to chief justices, has considerable jurisprudential and institutional influence. The possible impact of women CCC judges on jurisprudence can be seen, for example, in the rulings and concurring opinions of the former judge Eliška Wagnerová, focusing on the protection of individual and social rights, or Kateřina Šimáčková, who repeatedly advocated for human rights, and the protection of individuals from the state, and promoted the rights of women. Even though Šimáčková was one of the only two female judges at the Court back then, through her dissents she became one of its figures most known to the public during that era and established a position of feminist leadership. Even though not all of the interviewed judges agree that gender can influence the decisions of the Court, they acknowledge their individual experience can be reflected in discussions on specific topics and cases at the bench. A relatively recent case, which creates a likelihood that gender may play a role in the vote of the judges, was a case regarding a criminal sentence for sexual abuse of a minor, as five judges used their right to dissent – four of them being female. This connects to previous research conducted around the world showing that gender of the judge can make a difference in deciding sex crime cases or cases with a stronger gender dimension.

Five is the highest number of women ever to have served on the Court simultaneously, but it is no higher than in the early 2000s, suggesting little progress towards gender equality in the CCC composition. The current figure is often seen as a success, as the Court had only one female judge between 2022 and 2023 and later, briefly, none at all. In a judiciary where women constitute 60% of judges, this reflects the pattern of vertical gender segregation characteristic of many Central and Eastern European judiciaries.

Women have also never made it to the position of the president of the CCC. However, as it often goes, they were tasked with the role of vice-presidents, whose job  is to keep the court running and deal with the house-keeping from behind the scenes. After all, when Milada Tomková was one of the two female judges of the CCC’s third decade, as a vice-president she oversaw the long-needed complete renovation of the courthouse under full operation. When the current Court was being assembled, at a time when gender representation on the bench had become a more discussed issue than before, the appointment of two female vice-presidents was intended to send a message of formal gender balance in the Court's leadership. While the publicly proclaimed effort of the Czech President to enhance female representation at the Court should be appreciated, the result is far from parity and should therefore be (in the context of feminist institutionalism) viewed critically.

The first step towards more equal representation of women at the CCC is the realisation that the formal rules regarding the composition of the Court, which are universal and therefore considered as applying to everyone in the same way, have, in fact, different effects on people based on their gender. Further, they do not stand alone and are accompanied by informal practices, which also often have a strong gender dimension. Together, they influence and determine the representation of women at the Court.

Even though the formal rules in the constitution only state that judges should have education in the field of law and at least 10 years of experience therein, the Court is expected to be composed of the top jurists in the country. However, data show that women are continually underrepresented at the positions of presidents of courts – especially apex courts, in the management of big law firms and at senior positions in academia. Even though it is important to compose the Court of quality lawyers, only looking at the highest ranks can be counter-productive if gender balance is sought. There is a direct connection between the lack of progression within the legal profession and the gendered division of care in Czech society, as one of the most important factors in this regard.

Judges may be appointed from the age of 40, and many candidates are approached at the peak of their careers, often in their late forties or early fifties. Given that the average age of first-time mothers in Czechia is 30, women pursuing legal careers may still have school-age children when considered for appointment. This can prove to be a reason for the women to turn down the offer to become a CCC judge, as they are more likely the primary care-givers of their households. Interviewed female judges directly describe how society puts more pressure on them as mothers in relation to how much time they spend with their children in comparison to how it views the time fathers spend with their children. Related to that is the fact that the Court is based in Brno. Data shows that families in general are less likely to move for the career of the mother than the father.

The process of judicial selection plays a key role in women's access to the office. Although judges are formally nominated by the president of the country and approved by the Senate, no formal criteria govern the candidate selection. While presidents have used different approaches, all have relied to some extent on informal and non-transparent processes. The existing selection system builds on contact networks, in which women tend to be less represented, and creates a risk of homosocial reproduction, whereby decision-makers, historically predominantly men, tend to favour candidates similar to themselves. These dynamics may contribute to the overrepresentation of male judges. Similar concerns apply to Senate approval, which is – as interviewed judges confirm – shaped by political considerations and personal connections rather than efforts to promote gender balance. Consequently, the selection system has offered few institutional safeguards against the underrepresentation of women on the Court.

Although the women, who eventually make it to the Court, can rightfully be called heroines, the selection of judges should not be considered a casting for a heroine as an exceptional creature, who stands out above all. That is to say, such might be almost impossible to find. In a society where women bear most caring responsibilities, men have better chances to acquire the extra item on their CV, which will make them formally better qualified for the job, as well as overall better conditions to be appointed. More importantly, for female CCC judges to assume the office, which in Czechia embodies the position of judicial leadership, their names have to be brought up in the first place. If we really care for a diverse Court with all the advantages it brings along – role models for future generations being just one of them, gender-sensitive selection of judges is crucial. It should serve as a means of counteracting the status quo of gendered formal rules and informal practices that sustain vertical gender segregation and of moving the Court towards genuine gender equality.

Lucie Vodvářková, Ph.D. Candidate, Masaryk University.

Suggested Citation: Lucie Vodvářková, ‘In Search of Female Role Models in the Contemporary Czech Judiciary: The Appointments of Women to the Czech Constitutional Court’ IACL-AIDC (5 November 2026) https://blog-iacl-aidc.org/2026-posts/2026/11/5/in-search-of-female-role-models-in-the-contemporary-czech-judiciary-the-appointments-of-women-to-the-czech-constitutional-court