Center Court
- Vol. 6, No. 2 - Spring 2003
Women Rising in Ranks of
Court Leadership
A gender evolution is
taking place in state courts around the country. More women than ever now
sit on state court benches and serve as chief justices.
 When the Conference of
Chief Justices (CCJ) met in Williamsburg, Va. in January 2003, 20 women
participated—the most ever to serve as chief justice of their state’s
highest court.
“What a joy it is to
see the progress of women in the law, on the bench, and among the
nation’s chief justices,” said Chief Judge Kaye of New York’s Court
of Appeals and president of CCJ. “When I joined the Conference of Chief Justices 10 years
ago, there were no more than two or three women chief justices. While I am
unwilling to put the issue of gender equality in the past tense—there
are still many issues to resolve—unquestionably we have a lot to
celebrate.”
Court observers say these
gender shifts represent a sign of the increasing prominence of women in
the legal profession and on the bench and has resulted in heightened
awareness of issues such as domestic violence, children and families, and
the creation of “problem-solving courts.”
"Increasingly,
Congress and the federal executive agencies are attempting to legislate
and regulate policy related to children and family issues, which can
impact state court operations," said Kay Farley, NCSC government
relations director.
The shift to a woman
majority also is
reflected in the overall makeup of state courts across the country. Three
states now have a woman majority on their high court bench. In January,
voters in Ohio and Washington State for the first time assembled new women
majorities on their Supreme Courts, and in New York, Gov. George Pataki
appointed a woman to the Court of Appeals—the state’s highest
court—tipping that court’s numbers to four women, three men, making it
the first time more women than men would sit on the court.
Chief Judge Kaye said she
has witnessed significant gender changes since she stepped in as New
York’s top judge in 1993 and in her four decades in the legal
profession. “When I completed law school 40 years ago, women made up
only 3 percent of the school’s classes – 11 of 300 students at New
York University School of Law,” she said. Today, the number of women
entering law school is nearly equal to that of men.
“Do our rising numbers
matter?” Kaye asks, rhetorically. “Of course they do. While women
bring the same sweat and skill to our craft, I have no doubt that our
distinctive voices, experience, perspectives make a real difference. Is
the long-overdue increased attention to family law issues, for example,
chromosomal, or is it coincidental? You be the judge.”
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