Abstract
Statewide samples of women judges (N = 40), men judges (N = 326), women attorneys (N = 414), men attorneys (N = 288) in Florida rated the extent to which judges and attorneys of both genders engage in different forms of biased behavior against women in legal settings. Women judges and attorneys are most aware of gender-biased behavior against women. Women judges differ, especially, from men judges in perceiving other judges as behaving unprofessionally toward women. Multiple regression results show that this “gender gap” in perceptions is partly a function of age. This study suggests that promotion of more women to judgeships and educational efforts aimed at the younger generation of men judges will be productive in reducing biased treatment of women in the legal system.
References
American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession. (1996).Elusive Equality: The Experience of Women in Legal Education. Chicago: American Bar Association.
Eich, W. (1986). Gender bias in the courtroom: Some participants are more equal than others.Judicature, 69 339–43.
Florida Supreme Court Task Force. (1990).Report of the Florida Supreme Court Gender Bias Study Commission. Tallahassee: Supreme Court of Florida.
MacCorquodale, P., and Jensen, G. 1993. Women in the law: Partners or tokens?Gender and Society, 7 582–593.
MacDonald, P. L. (1987, June 9) In re: Gender Bias Study Commission. Florida Supreme Court Administrative Order.
MacKinnon, C. A. (1989).Towards a Feminist Theory of the State. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Martin, P. Y., & Powell, M., (1994). Accounting for the ‘second assault’: Legal organizations' framing of rape victims.Law and Social Inquiry, 19 853–890.
New Jersey Supreme Court Task Force. (1986). The first year report of the New Jersey Supreme Court Task Force on Women in the Courts—June 1984.Women's Rights Law Reporter 9 129–177.
New York Task Force. (1986–87). Report of the New York Task Force on Women in the Courts.Fordham Urban Law Journal, 15 1–198.
Pateman, C. (1988).The sexual contract. Stanford. Stanford University Press.
Pierce, J. L. (1995).Gender trials: Emotional lives in contemporary law firms. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Resnik, J. (1996). Gender in courts.Signs: The Journal of Women in Culture and Society, forthcoming.
Rosenberg, J., Pearlstat, H., & Phillips, W. R. F., (1993). Now that we are here: Discrimination disparagement, and harassment at work and the experience of women lawyers.Gender and Society 7 415–433.
Sapolsky, B. (1988a).Report on the Florida Bar Survey of Attorneys, Unpublished report. Tallahassee, FL: Sapolsky Research.
Sapolsky, B. (1988b).Report on the Supreme Court Gender Bias Study Commission Survey of Florida Judges Unpublished report. Tallahassee, FL: Sapolsky Research.
Schafran, L. H. (1985). Educating the judiciary about gender bias: The National Judicial Education Program to Promote Equality for Men and Women in the Courts and the New Jersey Supreme Court Task Force on Women in the Courts.Women's Rights Law Reporter, 9 109–24.
Schafran, L. H. (1987a). Practicing law in a sexist society. In Women, The Courts and Equality. L. Crites & W. Hepperle (Eds.), Beverly Hills, CA. Sage.
Schafran, L. H. (1987b). Documenting gender bias in the courts: The task force approach.Judicature, 70 280–90.
Special Subcommittee on Gender. (1994, May).Preliminary Report to the Task Force of the D.C. Circuit on Gender, Race and Ethnic Bias.
Wikler, N. J. (1987). Educating judges about gender bias in the courts. In L. Crites & W. Hepperle (Eds.),Women, The Courts and Equality. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
We are especially grateful to Barry Sapolsky for providing us with data from the Florida Gender Bias Study Commission surveys of judges and attorneys. We also wish to thank Patricia Martin and Irene Padavic for their thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stepnick, A., Orcutt, J.D. Conflicting testimony: Judges' and attorneys' perceptions of gender bias in legal settings. Sex Roles 34, 567–579 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01545033
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01545033