‘A good judge has no sex’? Understanding judicial gender representation with insights from Haiti

Gender representation occurs in different ways and in many venues. This study explores how gender representation is understood in judiciaries and the representative role of women judges. Using representation theory and interviews with 70 judges and other key informants in Haiti, the study presents a typology of the potential effects of women’s descriptive representation on the bench. It provides inside and outside perspectives on judicial gender representation in a type of context that is rarely studied in the literature on courts and gender. The findings show that there is room for various forms of substantive and symbolic gender representation on the bench, including representation as diversity of perspectives, representation as diversity of decisions and actions, representation as accessibility to courts, and representation as legitimacy of courts. The study contributes to theorizing judicial gender representation and highlights the importance of contextual and institutional factors in shaping the representative role of women judges.