1st Edition

Gender and Justice Why Women in the Judiciary Really Matter

By Sally Kenney Copyright 2013
    328 Pages
    by Routledge

    328 Pages
    by Routledge

    Intended for use in courses on law and society, as well as courses in women’s and gender studies, women and politics, and women and the law, this book explores different questions in different North American and European geographical jurisdictions and courts, demonstrating the value of a gender analysis of courts, judges, law, institutions, organizations, and, ultimately, politics. Gender and Justice argues empirically for both more women and more feminists on the bench, while demonstrating that achieving these two aims are independent projects.

    1. Introduction: Gender as a Social Process  2. Gender, Judging, and Difference  3. Mobilizing Emotions: The Case of Rosalie Wahl and the Minnesota Supreme Court  4. Strategic Partnerships and Women on the Federal Bench  5. Gender on the Agenda: Lessons from the United Kingdom  6. A Case for Representation: the European Court of Justice  7. Backlash Against Women Judges  8. Conclusion: Drawing on the History of Women’s Exclusion from Juries to Make the Case for Women Judges

    Biography

    Sally Kenney is Professor at the Newcomb College Institute of Tulane University.

    "In this impressive work of seminal scholarship, Professor Kenney documents and articulates a persuasive case for the value a gender analysis of legal systems and decisions, as weall as there neing more politically and judicially astute women appointed to the bench. Informed, informative, and enhanced with the inclusion of extensive notes, a substantial bibliography, and a comprehensive index, Gender and Justice is very strongly recommended as a core addition to academic library Gender Studies reference collections." Library Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review

    “Throughout the book, Kenney critiques essentialist frameworks and what has been left out of public law scholarship with a wit that makes a reader laugh out loud, not a common reaction to reading studies of judging.”Susan M. Sterett, Department of Political Science, University of Denver, Law and Politics Book Review

    "Kenney’s book tells us several stories of powerful women in the judiciary and why their presence matters. Through a series of detailed and well-researched case studies, she provides illuminating material to support her general position of the need to understand the discriminating potential of sex as a variable supplemented by an appreciation of the power of gender as a social process... this book has a global reach in the examples used and the concepts deployed that aid the analysis of the cases chosen. Throughout Kenney is careful and judicious in her use of the terms sex and gender and thoughtful in the analyses offered."— Sandra Walklate, Liverpool University