Guest Editorial: Symposium on Women in the Judiciary

Melissa Crouch

University of New South Wales

This blog symposium showcases the work of several contributors on women in the courts in the Asia-Pacific, drawing on research in the new publication, Women and the Judiciary in the Asia-Pacific (CUP 2021).

While there is a growing literature on women judges in the Global North, Ulrike Schultz notes the underrepresentation of socio-legal studies of women judges in the Global South. Women and the Judiciary in the Asia-Pacific takes up the call to chart an agenda for studying women in the judiciary in the Global South. 

This blog series features contributions by Anna Dziedzic on women judges in the Pacific, Dinesha Samararatne on Sri Lanka, Imelda Deinla on the Philippines and myself on Indonesia. These blog posts are drawn from the innovative research in the edited book, that includes a series of qualitative socio-legal case studies of women in the judiciary across the Pacific, South Asia (Nepal, India, Sri Lanka), and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines).

The contributors address a set of common questions: what role do courts play in promoting gender equality? What difference, if any, do women judges make? When and why do women judges advance gender equality? 

The historical trajectory, position and influence of women judges across the Asia-Pacific has been underexplored to date. Even basic information on the number of women in the judiciary over time can be difficult to obtain or verify, let alone analyse in context. For example, Dziedzic’s blog post reflects on new empirical data on women judges in the Pacific. She demonstrates that when data on both foreign and local judges are included, it can be concluded that foreign judges are in fact bad for gender equality on the bench. This post presents a strong argument for localisation of the judiciary if we wish to advance gender equality.

These reflections on women judges in the Asia-Pacific acknowledge the diversity and complexity of the judiciary in the region. This includes different legal traditions, from civil law to socialist and common law systems; varying degrees of commitment to liberal democracy or illiberal authoritarianism; differences in social conceptions of work and family that affect the role of women in the workplace; and differences in the social, economic and historical trajectories of the state, particularly the growing inequality between the rich and the poor worldwide.

The feminisation of the judiciary can be understood as the growing presence and influence of women judges in the courts in support of gender equality. This view of the feminisation of the judiciary does not presume all women judges support an agenda for equality but does acknowledge that women judges have a potentially significant role to play in support of gender equality. 

A thin conception of the feminisation of the judiciary is concerned with the entrance of women into the judiciary and their career progression. This view of feminisation focuses on women who broke the glass ceiling, the barriers women face to enter the judiciary, and the factors that explain when, how and why women enter the judiciary. These histories and stories are important and deserve greater recognition. For example, in my post I reflect on the first woman judge of Indonesia’s Constitutional Court.

Entrance to the judiciary is clearly an important step, and many of the contributors tell these stories. It is important to acknowledge and analyse the how, when and why women were able to enter the judiciary, as well as mark the milestones terms of women’s appointments to positions of high judicial office and judicial leadership. 

Yet, a thicker and more contested concept of the feminisation of the judiciary focuses on the diverse range of challenges women judges face in the judiciary and issues such as career progression. The thick feminisation of the judiciary focuses on substantive aspects of judicial practice, such as how women judges decide cases and whether they advance gender equality and, if so, when and how. For example, Samararatne’s blog post in this series reflects on whether gender equality has been advanced through adjudication in Sri Lanka. While finding that the inclusion of women judges is important for diversity, she sees little evidence of impact on how cases on gender are decided.

The contributors differ in whether the presence of women judges on the bench—in terms of thin feminisation—is an expression of gender equality. Some argue that this is true, while other authors suggest women judges may be tokenistic or fail to support gender equality.

What the contributors share in common is the view that the feminisation of the judiciary in the Asia-Pacific is influenced by wider issues of recognition, equality and non-discrimination for women in society. The contributors avoid essentialist views of women in the judiciary, and do not assume that the mere presence of women in the judiciary will lead to substantive equality. 

The role of women in the judiciary in the Asia-Pacific, as in much of the Global South, is influenced by religious, traditional and customary values and practices, as well as realities of corruption, inequality and violence. The stories of women judges in the region are ones of bravery and tenacity, while also revealing the tensions and politics of women judges on apex courts in particular. This is illustrated in the blog post by Deinla on the Philippines, in her reflection on how adjudication of cases concerning gender have changed over different political eras.

This blog series, and the edited volume related to it, opens up new conversations about women judges in the Asia-Pacific. We hope that it will provide the basis and inspiration for further research in this area.

For a discount on the volume, see the flyer here.

Melissa Crouch is Professor and Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Law & Justice at the University of New South Wales, Australia

Suggested Citation: Melissa Crouch, ‘Guest Editorial: Symposium on Women in the Judiciary’ IACL-AIDC Blog (2 November 2021) https://blog-iacl-aidc.org/women-judiciary/2021/11/2/guest-editorial-symposium-on-women-in-the-judiciary.