As the world celebrated international women's day in March, the 69th Session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women convened in New York, and the NGO CSW, a platform for the voices and leadership of global feminist and women's rights organizations held their annual official parallel programming events across the street at the Church Center for the United Nations. The International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) was a proud sponsor of this year’s Women in the Judiciary program which reflected on women judges in society and shared information about the paths these women have taken within their respective judiciary systems around the world to thrive in their roles. Additional sponsors of this award-winning, multi-year event included the following partner organizations -- the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ), the Federal Bar Association (FBA), the American Bar Association (ABA), and many other groups, including Fordham University School of Law, and highlighted presentations by the following speakers: Hon. Karoline Mehalchick, FBA President-Elect, Hon. Bernadette D’Souza, representing the International Association of Women Judges, North America Regional Directors, Presiding Judge Camille Vinet, Secretary General, Association of European Administrative Judges, Hon. Beth Bloom, Immediate Past Chair, FBA Judiciary Division, Hon. Florence Hermite-Fageur, representing the IAWJ, Hon. Michelle Rick, President, NAWJ, Hon. Delissa Ridgway, Court of International Trade, and Hon. Col. Linda Strite Murnane (Ret.), Associate Justice (Pro Tem), High Court, Republic of the Marshall Islands.
This year’s program explored the role that women play in the judiciary and how gender equality strengthens accountability across and within governmental bodies. The panelists explored how a justice system that maintains gender-balance in decision-making roles encourages greater participation by women in government at all levels, as well as in judiciaries and other public institutions. As the panelists discussed, from law school through clerkship positions, access to higher-level opportunities remains a challenge, largely due to the historical dominance of men in judicial roles. While women are increasingly finding their place within the judiciary, they still grapple with balancing family responsibilities and the demands of the bench. Despite these obstacles, when appointed and confirmed to senior positions, they become leaders within their courts and role models for those coming up through the ranks.
To put this in perspective, recent reporting from 2020 demonstrates that women play a prominent role in most Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member country judiciaries, averaging 57.2% in all countries within the organization excluding data within the United States. This reflects a slight increase of 3.9 percentage points compared to 2014 data.² Although women occupied at least 30% of judicial positions in all OECD countries overall, there were wide variations from country to country – ranging from 81% in Latvia to 31% in the United Kingdom.³ The countries with the greatest gender balance were predominantly civil law systems where women are recruited directly from law schools before they face possible career disruptions.⁴ On the other hand, in common law systems, women often face a statutory requirement of at least five or seven years post-qualification experience before they are legally qualified for posts in the judiciary.⁵
However, recent data about international tribunals shows that, for instance, out of the 15 judges serving at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) only four (27%) are women, though the Vice Presidency is held by a female judge.⁶ At the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, 6 out of 21 judges are women (29%), and its Vice President is also female.⁷ Nonetheless, the International Criminal Court (ICC) presents a more favorable picture, with 11 female judges out of 18 (61%), excluding those in holdover status completing cases.⁸ The President and second Vice President are women.⁹ One study in the United States reflects that women now make up 34% of the judiciary nationwide – well below the percentage of women in the population.¹⁰ Despite this progress, the presence of women in high-level courts continues to be comparatively smaller, with significant differences at the supreme court level. In 2020, women occupied only 40% of the positions in supreme courts in OECD member countries.¹¹ That study reflects that greater inclusion of women in the judiciary results in more equitable decision-making at all levels of the court system – which is fundamental to true justice.¹²
As Judge Michelle Rick reflected in her remarks at the program, while the statistics reveal that the number of women in the judiciary has not reached parity, there has been a noteworthy increase in the number of women judges and it’s clear that their presence has played a role in guaranteeing access to justice and justice for all, as well as protecting the rights of individuals under the umbrella of the rule of law. Judge Delissa Ridgway explained that the role of women judges is not to feminize the court but to humanize the court.
With wisdom, integrity and courage, the momentum toward breaking the glass ceiling and inspiring women all over the world is now. Perhaps Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said it best when confirmed as the first African-American female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. In a note shared widely in the U.S., and abroad, as well as in International Courts, “I know it has not always been easy as I have tried to navigate the challenges of juggling my career and motherhood, and I fully admit that I did not always get the balance right. But I hope that you have seen that with hard work, determination, and love, it can be done.”¹³ This message resonated with the sentiments expressed by the speakers at this program, and echoes the struggle and challenges in the profession.
Footnotes
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The authors are students in the LLM. in International Law and Justice Program at Fordham School of Law, in New York. Supporting research was provided by Nathaniel Bartholomew, B.A. in Economics, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.
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Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, The Pursuit of Gender Equality, An Uphill Battle (2017), https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2017/10/the-pursuit-of-gender-equality_g1g8072d/9789264281318-en.pdf.
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Id. In 2021, in Latin America, the percentage of female ministers in the highest Court of Justice or Supreme Court is 30.4%. In India, of the 788 judges in all High Courts, only 107 (13%) are women, and, as of 2023, none of the 24 High Courts in India have a woman Chief Justice. In contrast, from 2012 to 2022, in Europe, the percentage of female judges has increased from 54% to 60%, whereas in supreme courts the percentage has gone from 33% to 43% suggesting the gender gap between different hierarchical levels is reducing but hasn't achieved parity. In Africa, across the continent, the scenario is slowly changing with regard to parity in the judiciary.
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Members of the Bench of International Court of Justice – ICJ, https://www.icj-cij.org/current-members (last visited Apr. 8, 2025).
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Members of the Bench of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea – ITLOS, https://www.itlos.org/en/main/the-tribunal/members/ (last visited Apr. 2, 2025).
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Members of the Bench of International Criminal Court – ICC, https://www.icc-cpi.int/judges/judges-who-s-who (last visited Apr. 2, 2025).
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Presidency, https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/presidency (last visited Apr. 2, 2025).
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Susan Chehardy, Breaking the Gavel Ceiling: How Gender Inclusion Improves the Judicial System, ABA Article (Apr. 8, 2025), https://www.americanbar.org/groups/law_practice/resources/law-practice-today/2023-november/breaking-the-gavel-ceiling-how-gender-inclusion-improves-the-judicial-system/.
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OECD Study, supra note 2.
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Susan Chehardy, supra note 10.
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Letter from Justice Ketanji Jackson, Institute for African Women in Law (Apr. 16, 2023), https://www.africanwomeninlaw.com/_files/ugd/c889be_4fdc6c60795f4f5bb6a9cf55c8a99204.pdf (last visited Apr. 8, 2025).