ABSTRACT
An extralegal factor often studied by empirical researchers – but far less often proven to affect judicial decision-making – is the gender of the judge. Scholars in gender and judging have considered whether there is a link between the gender of the judge and their decision-making in cases on gender-salient issues, particularly in sex discrimination cases. Finding correlations between judges’ gender with decision-making in gender-salient cases is one thing, but – speculation aside – these findings are not particularly probative as to why these trends sometimes emerge. Marie-Claire Belleau and Rebecca Johnson investigated whether men and women judges reasoned cases differently. In an interview study, women state judges in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, denied gender made a difference in decision-making generally. One final consideration is how decisions made by judges of different races or ethnicities are reviewed by their colleagues on appellate courts.
