Books on judicial diversity are it seems, in at least one small respect, like London buses: you wait what seems a lifetime for one to turn up and then two are published at the same time.
Sally Kenney’s Gender and Justice: Why Women in the Judiciary Really Matter was published by Routledge in July 2012. It 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. Sally Kenney is Professor at the Newcomb College Institute of Tulane University and was a founder of the Infinity Project, to work for more women on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and has served on the Minnesota Supreme Court’s Gender Fairness Implementation Committee.
Erika Rackley’s Women, Judging and the Judiciary: From Difference to Diversity examines debates about gender representation in the judiciary and the importance of judicial diversity. It offers a fresh look at the role of the (woman) judge and the process of judging and provides a new analysis of the assumptions which underpin and constrain debates about why we might want a more diverse judiciary, and how we might get one. Erika Rackley is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Durham Law School and is on the executive committee of the Equal Justices Initiative.