Study: Lack of Opportunity & Access Keeps Women from Serving as Judges
A lack of opportunity and access is restricting the number of women judges on the state and federal bench nationwide despite plenty of qualified candidates, a new study has found.
And the situation is worse in some jurisdictions than others:
Even as the number of female law school graduates and law firm associates tops 45 percent, there are no women at all serving in a number of jurisdictions, including all of the federal courts in Montana, New Hampshire and the Northern District of New York, reports the study (PDF). It was conducted by the Center for Women in Government and Civil Society at the State University of New York at Albany.
At the same time that there are no women serving on the federal bench in the Northern District of New York, there is a pool of potential candidates amng the 359 women judges on the state-court bench there, according to the group’s report.
It calls for efforts to address the gender gap, saying that having more women judges is critical to equal citizenship in a representative democracy.
Nationwide, women judges fill 22 percent of the seats on the federal bench and 26 percent on the state bench.
Connecticut and New Jersey have the highest representation of women judges on the federal bench, topping 33 percent.
Hat tip: Blog of Legal Times.
