Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T04:26:02.326Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gender and Judging at the International Criminal Court

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2010

Louise Chappell
Louise Chappell
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Imagine this: a court presided over by a majority of women judges—many of whom are from racially marginalized backgrounds—and which has a “constitution” that has gender justice at its core. Incredibly, given what we know about gender and judging cross-nationally, this is not some utopian vision but the current reality at the International Criminal Court (ICC). As of May 2010, the 18 member ICC bench consisted of 11 women judges, most of whom were from outside the West and many of whom have expertise in gender-based violence. This development raises a range of important questions, two of which I want to speculate on in the following discussion: How is it that the sex profile of the ICC bench differs so dramatically from domestic-level courts? What difference might this profile make to the transformation of international law in terms of expanding gender justice principles?

Type
Critical Perspectives on Gender and Politics
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 484 - 495
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Beckwith, Karen. 2007. “Numbers and Newness: The Descriptive and Substantive Representation of Women.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 40 (1): 27–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bedont, Barbara, and Hall-Martinez, Katherine. 1999. “Ending Impunity for Gender Crimes Under the International Criminal Court.” Brown Journal of World Affairs 6 (1): 65–86.Google Scholar
Boyd, Christina L., Epstein, Lee, and Martin, Andrew D.. 2007. “Untangling the Causal Effects of Sex on Judging.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Chappell, Louise. 2002. Gendering Government: Feminist Engagement with the State in Australia and Canada. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Chappell, Louise. 2006a. “Comparing Political Institutions: Revealing the Gendered ‘Logic of Appropriateness.’” Politics & Gender 2 (June): 223–35.Google Scholar
Chappell, Louise. 2006b. “‘Women's Interests’ as ‘Women's Rights’: Developments at the UN Criminal Tribunals and the International Criminal Court.” In The Politics of Women's Interests: New Comparative Perspectives, ed. Chappell, L. and Hill, L.. UK: Routledge, 217–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chappell, Louise. 2008. “Women's Rights and Religious Opposition: The Politics of Gender at the International Criminal Court.” In Gendering the Nation State: Canadian Comparative Perspectives, ed. Abu-Laban, Yasmeen. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 139–61Google Scholar
Chappell, Louise. 2010. “Comparative Gender and Institutions: Directions for Research.” Perspectives on Politics 8 (1): 183–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charlesworth, Hilary, and Chinkin, Christine. 2000. The Boundaries of International Law: A Feminist Analysis. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Childs, Sarah, and Krook, Mona Lena. 2006. “Should Feminists Give Up on Critical Mass? A Contingent Yes.” Politics & Gender 2 (December): 522–30.Google Scholar
Childs, Sarah, and Krook, Mona Lena. 2008. “Critical Mass Theory and Women's Political Representation.” Political Studies 56 (3): 725–36.Google Scholar
Frey, Barbara. 2004. “A Fair Representation: Advocating for Women's Rights in the International Criminal Court.” Center on Women and Public Policy, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs: University of Minnesota. http://www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/wpp/abstract.htm (Accessed August 20, 2009).Google Scholar
Gardam, Judith Gail, and Jarvis, Michelle J.. 2001. Women, Armed Conflict and International Law. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
Hunter, Rosemary. 2008. “Can Feminist Judges Make a Difference?” International Journal of the Legal Profession 15: 1, 7–36.Google Scholar
ICC (International Criminal Court). 2009. “Fact Sheet: Judges of the International Criminal Court.” http://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/asp_docs/ASP1R7/ICC-ASP-R7-Factsheet_Judges_16Jan09.pdf (Accessed August 23, 2009).Google Scholar
Kenney, Sally. 2008. “Thinking About Gender and Judging.” International Journal of the Legal Profession 15: 1, 87–110.Google Scholar
Kenney, Sally. 2009. “Femocrats and Judicial Selection: Reconceptualizing Social Movement Insiders.” http://www.hhh.umn.edu/people/skenney/pdf/femocrats_judicial_selection.pdf (Accessed August 22, 2009).Google Scholar
LCHR (Lawyers Committee for Human Rights). 2002. “The Election of the First Panel of Judges to the International Criminal Court.” http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/international_justice/icc/election/procedure/icc_pro090502.pdf (Accessed August 23, 2009).Google Scholar
Lovenduski, Joni. 2005. Feminizing Politics. UK: Polity.Google Scholar
Mackay, Fiona. 2006. “Descriptive and Substantive Representation in New Parliamentary Spaces: The Case of Scotland.” In Representing Women in Parliament: A Comparative Study, ed. Sawer, M., Tremblay, M., and Trimble, L.. New York: Routledge, 171–87.Google Scholar
Mackay, Fiona. 2008. “‘Thick’ Conceptions of Substantive Representation: Women, Gender and Political Institutions.” Representation 44 (2): 125–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackay, Fiona. 2009. “Institutionalising ‘New Politics’ in Post Devolution Scotland: ‘Nested Newness’ and the Gendered Limits of Change.” Presented at the First European Conference on Politics and Gender, The Queen's University, Belfast.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, Catharine. 2006. “Defining Rape Internationally: A Comment on Akayesu.” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 44 (3): 940–58.Google Scholar
Mertus, Julie. 2004. “Shouting from the Bottom of a Well.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 6 (1): 110–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sawer, Marian, Tremblay, Manon, and Trimble, Linda, eds. 2006. Representing Women in Parliament: A Comparative Study. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steains, Cate. 1999. “Gender Issues.” In The International Criminal Court: The Making of the Rome Statute, ed. Lee, R. S.. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 357–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Törnquist-Chesnier, Marie. 2007. “How the International Criminal Court Came to Life: The Role of Non-governmental Organisations” Global Society 21 (3): 449–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Margaret S., and Thomas, Frank C.. 2008. “Women's Representation on High Courts in Advanced Industrialized Countries.” Politics & Gender 4 (September): 451–71.Google Scholar
WICJ (Women's Initiatives for Gender Justices). 2008. “Making a Statement: A Review of the Charges and Prosecutions for Gender-Based Crimes before the International Criminal Court.” http://www.iccwomen.org/publications/articles/docs/MakingAStatement-WebFinal.pdf (Accessed August 22, 2009).Google Scholar
WICJ (Women's Initiatives for Gender Justices). 2009. “Legal Eye on the ICC.” August. http://www.iccwomen.org/news/docs/LegalEye_Aug09/index.html (Accessed August 22, 2009).Google Scholar