Global Judicial Integrity Network Updates Special Edition 'Views' Review | Page 12

VIEWS
The Role of Women Judges and a Gender Perspective in Ensuring Judicial
Independence and Integrity
Judge Vanessa Ruiz is a Senior Judge for the Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia (D.C.), United
States of America and the current President of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ).
She has previously acted as Chair of the D.C. Courts’ Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct and is a
Commissioner for the D.C. Access to Justice Commission.
At a time when violent judges are strengthening the judiciary and
conflict,
economic helping to gain the public’s trust.
displacement
and
a
changing
climate
are The entry of women judges into spaces from
causing increasing levels of which they had historically been excluded
uncertainty and fear around has been a positive step in the direction of
the world, authoritarian, judiciaries being perceived as being more
non-democratic movements transparent, inclusive, and representative of
are attempting to present the people whose lives they affect. By their
themselves as an antidote to these concerns. mere presence, women judges enhance the
Instead, the solution must be
legitimacy of courts, sending a
the rule of law — a powerful,
powerful signal that they are
stabilizing
and
moderating
open and accessible to those who
By
their
mere
influence. As judges, we must
seek recourse to justice.
women
ensure that we discharge our presence,
responsibilities to the highest
women
judges
judges enhance the However,
standards, and in turn earn the
contribute far more to justice
trust of the public, whose support legitimacy of the than improving its appearance:
is critical to the rule of law.
courts, sending a they also contribute significantly
to the quality of decision-making,
signal and thus to the quality of justice
The judiciary will not be trusted powerful
if it is viewed as a bastion of that they are open itself. Women judges throughout
entrenched elitism, exclusivity
the world have earned the
and privilege, oblivious to changes and accessible to necessary credentials, gained
in society and to the needs of the those
who seek accomplishments and otherwise
most vulnerable. Indeed, citizens
met the standards for judicial
recourse
to
justice.
will find it hard to accept the
selection. But we do, after all,
judiciary as the guarantor of law
live our lives as women, with all
and human rights if judges themselves act the social and cultural impacts women face,
in a discriminatory manner. That is why the including complex family relationships and
presence of women is essential to the legitimacy obligations.
of the judiciary.
Women judges bring those lived experiences
Achieving equality for women judges, in terms to their judicial actions, experiences that tend
of representation at all levels of the judiciary toward a more comprehensive and empathetic
and on policy-making judicial councils, should perspective- one that encompasses not only the
be our goal — not only because it is right for legal basis for judicial action, but also awareness
women, but also because it is right for the of consequences on the people affected.
achievement of a more just rule of law. Women
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