Women judges in fragile states: state of the art and analytical framework
Women are entering courts as judges in increasing numbers, including in so-called ‘fragile states’. However, little research examines in-depth how women access and experience their role on the bench in these contexts. Based on a thorough review of existing literature, we propose an analytical framework that can help us understand how women access and experience their role on the bench in contexts of state fragility. Drawing on existing research that has established that access to and experiences on the bench are gendered, our analytical framework proposes that fragile and conflict-affected contexts may add important additional dimensions to gendered dynamics. These, in turn, may create both new opportunities and challenges for women to enter and participate in judicial decision making. By applying the framework to five fragile, though also very different, contexts, we analyse how this may play out.
