Women and the Judiciary in the Asia-Pacific

Description

Courts can play an important role in addressing issues of inequality, discrimination and gender injustice for women. The feminisation of the judiciary - both in its thin meaning of women's entrance into the profession, as well as its thicker forms of realising gender justice - is a core part of the agenda for gender equality. This volume acknowledges both the diversity of meanings of the feminisation of the judiciary, as well as the complexity of the social and cultural realisation of gender equality. Containing original empirical studies, this book demonstrates the past and present challenges women face to entering the judiciary and progressing their career, as well as when and why they advocate for women's issues while on the bench. From stories of pioneering women to sector-wide institutional studies of the gender composition of the judiciary, this book reflects on the feminisation of the judiciary in the Asia-Pacific.

Melissa Crouch is Professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). She is the author of The Constitution of Myanmar (2019) and Law and Religion in Indonesia 2013). Melissa is the Vice-President of the Asian Studies Association of Australia. She was awarded a major grant by the Australian Research Council to study constitutional change in authoritarian regimes. Her book, The Constitution of Myanmar, was shortlisted for the Australian Legal Research Awards 2020.

'Moving beyond demographic description, Crouch brings together crucial scholarship on the possibilities for thick feminism when the judiciary gets substantially (and sustainably) feminized. Using accounts across sites, this volume considers the structural conditions that realize and resist women's accession to these positions of power, as well as their complicated individual narratives of success while navigating these conditions. In doing so, it forces us to (re)consider the location of the global south and its actors in legal profession scholarship.' Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen, University of California 'While attention has been paid to the growing number of women lawyers in the United States of America, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, and individual judges like Ruth Bader Ginsburg have captured the attention of many non-lawyers around the globe, less is known about women lawyers in the Asia Pacific. Women and the Judiciary in the Asia-Pacific is a timely collection, making a significant contribution to ensuring efforts to overcome and address issues of inequality, discrimination and gender injustice are better understood. This book enables lawyers and legislators, public policy makers and comparative scholars to benefit from the excellent contributions in this collection, and better appreciate the active citizenship of women lawyers around the globe.' Kim Rubenstein, Co-Director, 50/50 by 2030 Foundation, Faculty of Business, Government and Law, University of Canberra 'This impressive collection considers a question that continues to challenge feminist legal scholars and practitioners: what role do women in the judiciary play in achieving gender equality? Applying this to a hitherto under-examined field - courts and the legal profession in the Asia-Pacific -it explores both the 'promise and paradox' of the work of women judges. In its rich historical and contemporary accounts of multiple countries in the region, it offers a 'thick' description of what the 'feminisation of the judiciary' may mean, and in doing so will prove indispensable for scholars in the field and fascinating for general readers. Original and illuminating in both its subject matter and its perspective, it brings together a team of country specialists, under the editorship of one of the leading experts in the judicial systems of the Global South.' Helen Irving, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney 'Moving beyond demographic description, Crouch brings together crucial scholarship on the possibilities for thick feminism when the judiciary is substantially (and sustainably) feminized. Using accounts across eight locations, this volume considers the structural conditions that realize and resist women's accession to these positions of power, as well as their complicated individual narratives of success while navigating these conditions. In doing so, it forces us to (re)consider the location of the Global South and its actors in legal profession scholarship.' Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen, Assistant Professor, University of California, Irvine