Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:10:40.226Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Avoiding Adversariness? The Effects of Gender on Litigant Decision-Making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2017

Claire B. Wofford
Claire B. Wofford*
Affiliation:
College of Charleston
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

How does gender influence the American judicial system? Scholars interested in this question have focused on several areas, including the substance of the law (Bender 1993; Olsen 1995; Rifkin 1981), the presence of women on a jury (Fowler 2005; Marder 1987; Taylor-Thompson 2000), and the sex of criminal defendants (Sarnikar, Sorenson, and Oaxaca 2007; Starr 2012). Among political scientists in particular, most work has examined judicial decision-making and whether the rulings of female judges differ from those of their male counterparts. Results of these studies have been mixed: some indicate that female judges vote differently, at least in certain types of cases (Boyd, Epstein, and Martin 2010; Peresie 2005; Songer and Crews-Meyer 2000), but others have found no, or only a minimal, gender effect (Segal 2002; Songer, Davis, and Haire 1994; Walker and Barrow 1985).

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 656 - 682
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abrams, Kathyrn. 1991. “Feminist Lawyering and Legal Method.” Law & Social Inquiry 16 (2): 373–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Monica. 2014. “Vast Majority of Blacks View the Criminal Justice System as Unfair.” Pew Research Center Publication. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/08/12/vast-majority-of-blacks-view-the-criminal-justice-system-as-unfair/ (accessed February 17, 2017).Google Scholar
Bailey, Michael, Kamoie, Brian, and Maltzman, Forrest. 2005. “Signals from the Tenth Justice: The Political Role of the Solicitor General in Supreme Court Decision Making.” American Journal of Political Science 49 (1): 72–85.Google Scholar
Baird, Vanessa. 2007. Answering the Call of the Court: How Justices and Litigants Set the Supreme Court Agenda. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.Google Scholar
Barnello, Michelle A., and Bratton, Kathleen A.. 2007. “Bridging the Gender Gap in Bill Sponsorship.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 32 (3): 449–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartlett, Katherine. 1990. “Feminist Legal Methods.” Harvard Law Review 103: 829–88.Google Scholar
Bebchuk, Lucian. 1984. “Litigation and Settlement under Imperfect Information.” RAND Journal of Economics 15 (3): 404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bender, Leslie. 1993. “An Overview of Feminist Tort Scholarship.” Cornell Law Review 78 (4): 575–96.Google Scholar
Biskupic, Joan. 2015. “The Echo Chamber.” Special Report for Reuters Press. http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/scotus (accessed February 17, 2017).Google Scholar
Black, Ryan C., and Owens, Ryan. 2012. The Solicitor General and the United States Supreme Court: Executive Influence and Judicial Decisions. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Booth, Alison L., and Nolen, Patrick J.. 2009. “Choosing to Compete: How Different are Girls and Boys?” CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP7214. http://ssrn.com/abstract=1372534 (accessed February 17, 2017).Google Scholar
Boyd, Christina L. 2013. “She'll Settle It?” Journal of Law and Courts 1 (2): 193–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, Christina L., and Hoffman, David A.. 2013. “Litigating Toward Settlement.” Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization 29 (4): 898–929.Google Scholar
Boyd, Christina L., Epstein, Lee, and Martin, Andrew D.. 2010. “Untangling the Causal Effects of Sex on Judging.” American Journal of Political Science. 54(2): 389–411.Google Scholar
Boyd, Christina L., Hoffman, David A., Obradovic, Zoran, and Ristovski, Kosta. 2013. “Building a Taxonomy of Litigation: Clusters of Causes of Action in Federal Civil Complaints.” Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 10 (1): 253–87.Google Scholar
Brown, Judith Olans, Parmet, Wendy E., and O'Connell, Mary E.. 1999. “The Rugged Feminism of Sandra Day O'Connor.” Indiana Law Review 32: 1219–46.Google Scholar
Burke, Sarah, and Collins, Karen M.. 2001. “Gender Differences in Leadership Styles and Management Skills.” Women in Management Review 16 (5): 244–57.Google Scholar
Byrnes, James P., Miller, David C., and Schafer, William D.. 1999. “Gender Differences in Risk Taking: A Meta-Analysis.” Psychological Bulletin 125 (3): 367–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldeira, Gregory A., and Wright, John R.. 1988. “Organized Interests and Agenda Setting in the U.S. Supreme Court.” American Political Science Review 82 (4): 1109–27.Google Scholar
Cammisa, Anne Marie, and Reingold, Beth. 2004. “Women in State Legislatures and State Legislative Research: Beyond Sameness versus Difference.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 4 (2): 181–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, A. 2002. A Mind of Her Own: The Evolutionary Psychology of Women. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, John M., Niemi, Richard G., and Powell, Lynda W.. 1998. “Are Women State Legislators Different?” In Women and Elective Office: Past, Present, and Future, ed. Thomas, Susan and Wilcox, Clyde. New York: Oxford University Press, 87–102.Google Scholar
Carroll, Susan J. 1984. “Woman Candidates and Support for Feminist Concerns.” Western Political Quarterly 37 (2): 307–23.Google Scholar
Carroll, Susan J. 2001. “Representing Women: Women State Legislators as Agents of Policy-Related Change.” In The Impact of Women in Public Office, ed. Susan Carroll. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Charness, Gary, and Gneezy, Uri. 2012. “Strong Evidence for Gender Differences in Risk Taking.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 83 (1): 50–58.Google Scholar
Colker, Ruth. 1990. “Feminist Litigation: An Oxymoron? A Study of the Briefs Filed in William L. Webster v. Reproductive Health Services .” Harvard Women's Law Journal 13: 137–88.Google Scholar
Collins, Paul M. Jr. 2008. Friends of the Supreme Court: Interest Groups and Judicial Decision Making. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, Frank B. 2003. “Decision-Making in the U.S. Circuits Courts of Appeals.” California Law Review 91(6): 1459–1516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Figueiredo, John M. 2005. “Strategic Plaintiffs and Ideological Judges in Telecommunications Litigation” Journal of Law, Economics, & Organizations 21 (2): 501.Google Scholar
Dodson, Debra L., and Carroll, Susan J.. 1991. Reshaping the Agenda: Women in State Legislatures. New Brunswick, NJ: Center for American Women and Politics.Google Scholar
Donohue, John J. III. 1988. “Law and Economics: The Road Not Taken.” Law & Society Review 22 (5): 903.Google Scholar
Drahozal, Christopher, and Hylton, Keith. 2003. “The Economics of Litigation and Arbitration: An Application to Franchise Contract.” The Journal of Legal Studies 32 (2): 549–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, Lee. 1991. “Courts and Interest Groups.” In The American Courts: A Critical Assessment, ed. Johnson, Charles & Gates, John. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 2015. “Enforcement and Litigation Statistics.” http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/sex.cfmandhttp://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/epa.cfm (accessed February 17, 2017).Google Scholar
Ertaca, Seda, and Gurdalb, Mehmet Y.. 2012. “Deciding to Decide: Gender, Leadership and Risk-Taking in Groups.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 83: 24–30.Google Scholar
Epstein, Lee, Segal, Jeffrey A., and Johnson, Timothy. 1996. “The Claim of Issue Creation on the U.S. Supreme Court.” American Political Science Review 90 (4): 845–852.Google Scholar
Fowler, Lucy. 2005. “Gender and Jury Deliberations: The Contributions of Social Science.” William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law 12 (1): 1–48.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Carol. 1982. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gneezy, Uri, Leonard, Kenneth L., and List, John A.. 2009. “Gender Differences in Competition: Evidence from a Matrilineal and a Patriarchal Society.” Econometrica 77 (5): 1637–64.Google Scholar
Harris, Christine R., and Jenkins, Michael. 2006. “Gender Differences in Risk Assessment: Why do Women Take Fewer Risks than Men?” Judgment and Decision Making 1 (1): 48–63.Google Scholar
Hogarth, Robin M., Karelaiab, Natalia, and Trujillo, Carlos Andrés. 2012. “When Should I Quit? Gender Differences in Exiting Competitions.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 83 (1): 136–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hylton, Keith N. 2002. “The Economics of Litigation and Arbitration: An Application to Franchise Contracts.” International Review of Law and Economics 22 (2): 153–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahn, Kim Fridkin. 1994. “Does Gender Make a Difference? An Experimental Examination of Sex Stereotypes and Press Patterns in Statewide Campaigns.” American Journal of Political Science. 38 (1): 162–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kritzer, Herbert M., and Uhlman, Thomas M.. 1977. “Sisterhood in the Courtroom: Sex of Judge and Defendant in Criminal Case Disposition.” Social Sciences Journal 14 (2): 77–88.Google Scholar
Landes, William. 1971. “An Economic Analysis of the Courts.” Journal of Law and Economics. 14(1): 61–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer L., and Fox, Richard L.. 2010. It Still Takes A Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer L., and Fox, Richard L.. 2012. “Men Rule: The Continued Under-Representation of Women in U.S. Politics. Women and Politics Institute. https://www.american.edu/spa/wpi/upload/2012-men-rule-report-web.pdf (accessed March 27, 2017).Google Scholar
Lazarus, Richard James. 2008. “Advocacy Matters before and within the Supreme Court: Transforming the Court by Transforming the Bar.” Georgetown Public Law Research Paper No. 1022629. http://ssrn.com/abstract=1022629 (accessed February 22, 2017).Google Scholar
Long, J. Scott. 1987. “A Graphical Method for the Interpretation of Multinomial Logit Analysis.” Sociological Methods Research 15 (4): 420–56.Google Scholar
Long, J. Scott, and Freese, Jeremy. 2003. Regression Models for Categorical Variables Using Stata, 2nd ed. College Station, TX: Stata Publishing.Google Scholar
Longazel, Jamie G., Parker, Lauren. S., and Su, Ivan. Y.. 2011. “Experiencing Court, Experiencing Race: Perceived Procedural Injustice among Court Users. Race and Justice 1 (2): 202–27.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, Catherine A. 1990. Toward a Feminist Theory of the State. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Maestas, Cherie D., Fulton, Sarah, Maisel, L. Sandy, and Stone, Walter J.. 2006. “Institutions, Ambitions, and the Decision to Run for the U.S. House.” The American Political Science Review 100 (2): 195–208.Google Scholar
Marder, Nancy S. 1987. “Gender Dynamics and Jury Deliberations.” Yale Law Journal 96: 593–611.Google Scholar
Marshall, Anna Maria and Hale, Daniel Crocker. 2014. “Cause Lawyering.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 10: 301–20.Google Scholar
McCammon, Holly J., and McGrath, Allison R.. 2015. “Litigating Change? Social Movements and the Court System.” Sociology Compass 9 (2): 128–39.Google Scholar
McGuire, Kevin T. 1995. “Repeat Players in the Supreme Court: The Role of Experienced Lawyers in Litigation Success.” Journal of Politics 57 (1): 187–93.Google Scholar
Menkel-Meadow, Carrie. 1985. “Portia in a Different Voice: Speculations on a Women's Lawyering Process.” Berkeley Women's Law Journal 1: 39–56.Google Scholar
Noddings, Nel. 2003. Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Olsen, Frances, ed. 1995. Feminist Legal Theory II: Positioning Feminist Theory within the Law. New York: Dartmouth Publishing/NYU Press.Google Scholar
Peresie, Jennifer L. 2005. “Female Judges Matter: Gender and Collegial Decision Making in the Federal Appellate Courts.” Yale Law Journal 114 (7): 1759–90.Google Scholar
Priest, George, and Klein, Benjamin. 1984. “The Selection of Disputes for Litigation.” Journal of Legal Studies 13 (1): 1–35.Google Scholar
Rackley, Erika. 2012. Women, Judging and the Judiciary: From Difference to Diversity. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Reinganum, Jennifer. 1988. “Plea Bargaining and Prosecutorial Discretion.” The American Economic Review, 78(4): 713–728.Google Scholar
Reingold, Beth. 1996. “Conflict and Cooperation: Legislative Strategies and Concepts of Power among Female and Male State Legislators.” Journal of Politics. 58(2): 464–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reingold, Beth. 2000. Representing Women: Sex, Gender, and Legislative Behavior in Arizona and California. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Reingold, Beth. 2008. “Women as Officeholders: Linking Descriptive and Substantive Representation.” In Political Women and American Democracy, ed. Wolbrecht, Christina, Beckwith, Karen, and Baldez, Lisa. New York: Cambridge University Press, 128–47.Google Scholar
Reingold, Beth, and Haynie, Kerry L.. 2014. “Representing Women's Interests and Intersections of Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in U.S. State Legislatures.” In Representation: The Case of Women, ed. Escobar-Lemmon, Maria C. and Taylor-Robinson, Michelle M.. New York: Oxford University Press, 183–204.Google Scholar
Reingold, Beth, and Swers, Michele A.. 2011. “An Endogenous Approach to Women's Interests: When Interests are Interesting in and of Themselves.” Politics & Gender 7 (3): 429–35.Google Scholar
Rhode, Deborah L., ed. 2002: The Difference Makes: Women and Leadership. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rifkin, Janet 1981. “Toward a Theory of Law and Patriarchy.” Harvard Women's Law Journal 3: 83–95.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, Cindy Simon. 2000. “Gender Styles in State Legislative Committees: Raising Their Voices in Resolving Conflict.” Women & Politics 21 (2): 21–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanchirico, Chris William, ed. 2012. Procedural Law and Economics. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar
Sarat, Austin, and Scheingold, Stuart A., eds. 2006. Cause Lawyers and Social Movements. Los Angeles CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Sarnikar, Supriya, Sorensen, Todd, and Oaxaca, Ronald L.. 2007. “Do You Receive a Lighter Prison Sentence Because You are a Woman? An Economic Analysis of Federal Criminal Sentencing Guidelines.” Working paper no. 2870, Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=999358 (accessed February 22, 2017).Google Scholar
Segal, Jennifer A. 2002. “Representative Decision Making on the Federal Bench: Clinton's District Court Appointees.” Political Research Quarterly. 53 (137): 142–47.Google Scholar
Sherry, Susanna. 1986. “Civic Virtue and the Feminine Voice in Constitutional Adjudication.” Virginia Law Review 72 (2): 543.Google Scholar
Siegelman, Peter, and Donohue, John J. III. 1995. “The Selection of Employment Discrimination Disputes for Litigation: Using Business Cycle Effects to Test the Priest-Klein Hypothesis.” Journal of Legal Studies 24 (2): 427.Google Scholar
Sisk, Gregory C., Heise, Michael, and Morris, Andrew P.. 1998. “Charting the Influences on the Judicial Mind: An Empirical Study of Judicial Reasoning.” NYU Law Review 73 (5): 1377–1500.Google Scholar
Songer, Donald R., Cameron, Charles M., and Segal, Jeffrey A.. 1995. “An Empirical Test of the Rational-Actor Theory of Litigation.” The Journal of Politics 57 (4): 1119–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Songer, Donald R., and Crews-Meyer, Kelley A.. 2000. “Does Judge Gender Matter? Decision Making in State Supreme Courts.” Social Science Quarterly. 81 (3): 750–62.Google Scholar
Songer, Donald R., Davis, Sue, and Haire, Susan. 1994. “A Reappraisal of Diversification in the Federal Courts: Gender Effects in the Courts of Appeals.” Journal of Politics 56 (2): 425–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Starr, Sonja B. 2012. “Estimating Gender Disparities in Federal Criminal Cases.” University of Michigan Law and Economics Research Paper, no. 12–018. http://ssrn.com/abstract=2144002 (accessed February 22, 2017).Google Scholar
Swers, Michele L. 2002. The Difference Women Make: The Policy Impact of Women in Congress. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swers, Michele L. 2013. Women in the Club: Gender and Policy Making in the Senate. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor-Thompson, Kim. 2000. “Empty Votes in Jury Deliberations.” Harvard Law Review 113 (6): 1261–1320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Sue. 1994. How Women Legislate. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tyler, Tom, and Huo, Yuen J.. 2002. Trust in the Law. New York: Russel Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Volden, Craig, Wiseman, Alan. E., and Wittmer, Dana. E.. 2013a. “When are Women More Effective Lawmakers than Men?” American Journal of Political Science 57 (2): 326–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volden, Craig, Wiseman, Alan. E., and Wittmer, Dana. E.. 2013b. “Women's Issues and Their Fates in Congress.” CSDI Working Paper 07-2013, Vanderbilt University.Google Scholar
Waldfogel, Joel. 1998. “Reconciling Asymmetric Information and Divergent Expectations: Theories of Litigation.” Journal of Law & Economics 41 (2): 451–76.Google Scholar
Walker, Thomas G., and Barrow, Deborah J.. 1985. “The Diversification of the Federal Bench: Policy and Process Ramifications.” Journal of Politics 47 (2): 596–617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, Alison. 1994. “Bargaining through an Expert Attorney.” Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization 10 (1): 168.Google Scholar
Wittman, Donald. 1988. “Dispute Resolution, Bargaining, and the Selection of Cases for Trial: A Study of the Generation of Biased and Unbiased Data.” Journal of Legal Studies 17 (3): 313.Google Scholar
Wolbrecht, Christina. 2000. The Politics of Women's Rights: Parties, Positions, and Change. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Yates, Jeff, Cann, Damon M., and Boyea, Brent D.. 2013. “Judicial Ideology and the Selection of Disputes for U.S. Supreme Court Adjudication.” Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 10 (4) 847–65.Google Scholar
Yates, Jeff, and Coggins, Elizabeth. 2009. “The Intersection of Judicial Attitudes and Litigant Selection Theories: Explaining U.S. Supreme Court Decision-Making.” Journal of Law & Policy 29: 263.Google Scholar
Zorn, Christopher J. W. 2002. “U.S. Government Litigation Strategies in the Federal Appellate Courts.” Political Research Quarterly 55 (1): 145–66.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Wofford supplementary material

Supplementary abstract

Download Wofford supplementary material(File)
File 12.2 KB