Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T14:16:54.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Increasing the Gender Diversity of High Courts: A Comparative View

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2010

Valerie Hoekstra
Valerie Hoekstra
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The appointment of Sonia Sotomayor and the nomination of Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court provides a timely opportunity for scholars, policymakers, and members of the legal community to consider why there are so few women on the world's highest courts. Although singular moments draw our attention to the importance of women on high courts, sadly, this attention is rarely sustained over long periods. While much was made of Ronald Reagan's historic nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor to serve as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, more than a decade and four nomination opportunities passed by before Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed. On this point, Paula Monopoli aptly observes: “[T]he assumption that progress would steadily continue until gender parity was achieved has proven to be wrong” (2007, 43). Unfortunately, this same observation could be said of virtually all other high courts across the globe.

Type
Critical Perspectives on Gender and Politics
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 474 - 484
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2010

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

Baldez, Lisa. 2004. “Elected Bodies: The Gender Quota Law for Legislative Candidates in Mexico,” Legislative Studies Quarterly 29 (2): 231–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldez, Lisa. 2007. “Primaries v. Quotas: Gender and Candidate Nominations in Mexico, 2003,” Latin American Politics and Society 49 (3): 69–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauer, Gretchen. 2008. “Fifty/Fifty by 2020,” International Feminist Journal of Politics 10 (3): 348–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caul, Miki. 1999. “Women's Representation in Parliament: The Role of Political Parties” Party Politics 5 (1): 79–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caul, Miki. 2001. “Political Parties and the Adoption of Candidate Gender Quotas: A Cross-National Analysis. Journal of Politics 63 (4): 1214–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowan, Ruth B. 2006. “Women's Representation on the Courts in the Republic of South Africa,” University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class 6 (Fall): 291–318.Google Scholar
Cowan, Ruth B. N.d. “The Rationale for More Women Judges in Canada, the United States and the Republic of South Africa.” Unpublished manuscript. Women & Politics Institute, School of Public Affairs, American University, Washington, DC.http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/promo/The_Rationale_for_More_Women_Judges-byRuth_Cowan%20.pdf (Accessed October 14, 2009).Google Scholar
Dahlerup, Drude. 2008. “Gender Quotas: Controversial but Trendy,” International Feminist Journal of Politics. 10 (3): 322–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahlerup, Drude, ed. 2006. Women, Quotas and Politics. New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Franceschet, Susan and Krook, Mona Lena. 2006. “State Feminism and Gender Quotas in the ‘North’ and ‘South’: Comparative Lessons from Western Europe and Latin America.” Paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual International Convention, San Diego, CA, March 22–25, 2006.Google Scholar
Galligan, Yvonne. 2006. “Bringing Women In: Global Strategies for Gender Parity in Political Representation,” University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class 6 (Fall): 319–36.Google Scholar
Htun, Mala N., and Jones, Mark. P.. 2002. “Engendering the Right to Participate in Decision-Making: Electoral Quotas and Women's Leadership in Latin America.” In Gender and the Politics of Rights and Democracy in Latin America, ed. Craske, N. and Molyneux, M.. New York: Palgrave, 32–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Mark P. 2004. “Quota Legislation and the Election of Women: Learning from the Costa Rican Experience,” Journal of Politics. 66: 1203–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Mark P. 2009. “Gender Quotas, Electoral Laws, and the Election of Women: Evidence from the Latin American Vanguard,” Comparative Political Studies 42:56–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International IDEA and Stockholm University. 2006. “Global Database of Quotas for Women.” http://www.quotaproject.org.Google Scholar
Kenney, Sally J. 2002. “Composition of the European Court of Justice,” Feminist Legal Studies 10: 257–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenney, Sally J. 2008. “Gender on the Agenda: How the Paucity of Women Judges Became an Issue,” Journal of Politics 70: 717–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenney, Sally J. 2009. “Which Judicial Selection Systems Generate the Most Women Judges? Lessons from the United States.” Paper prepared for the workshop on Gender and Judging, Onati, Spain.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kittilson, Miki Caul. 2005. “In Support of Gender Quotas: Setting New Standards, Bringing Visible Gains,” Politics & Gender. 1 (December): 638–45.Google Scholar
Krook, Mona Lena. 2009. Quotas for Women in Politics: Gender and Candidate Selection Reform Worldwide. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malleson, Kate. 2003 “Justifying Gender Equality on the Bench: Why Difference Won't Do,” Feminist Legal Studies 11: 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malleson, Kate. 2009. “Diversity in the Judiciary: The Case for Positive Action,” Journal of Law and Society 3: 376–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meier, Petra. 2008. “A Gender Gap Not Closed by Quotas,” International Feminist Journal of Politics 3: 329–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monopoli, Paula. 2007. “Gender and Justice: Parity and the United States Supreme Court,” Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law 8: 43–65.Google Scholar
Nayak, Malathi. 2008. “Divided Views on Women's Quota in India's Higher Judiciary.” One World South Asia. December, 9 2008. http://southasia.oneworld.net/.Google Scholar
Sacchet, Teresa. 2008. “Beyond Numbers,” International Feminist Journal of Politics 10 (3): 369–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, Gregory D., and Saunders, Kyle L.. 2004. “Effective Quotas, Relative Party Magnitudes, and the Success of Female Candidates: Peruvian Municipal Elections in Comparative Perspective,” Comparative Political Studies 37: 704–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwindt-Bayer, Leslie A. 2009. “Making Quotas Work: The Effect of Gender Quota Laws on the Election of Women,” Comparative Political Studies 34 (1): 5–28.Google Scholar
Shaw, Gisela, and Schultz, Ulrike, eds. 2003. Women in the World's Legal Professions. Oxford: Hart.Google Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari, and Kang, Alice. 2008. “The Global Impact of Quotas: On the Fast Track to Increased Female Legislative Representation,” Comparative Political Studies 41: 338–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women). 2005. “Affirmative Action Quota Benefiting Women Approved for Ecuadorian Justice System.” October 25, 2005. http://www.unifem.org.Google Scholar
Williams, Margaret S., and Thames, Frank C.. 2008. “Women's Representation on High Courts in Advanced Industrialized Countries,” Politics & Gender 4 (September): 451–71.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2000. Ecuador Gender Review: Issues and Recommendations. Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2007. “Civil Society's Role in the Governance Agenda in Ecuador: Assessing Opportunities and Constraints.” Working Paper 41012.Google Scholar