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Tetiana FULEY,

Head of the Department, National School of Judges of Ukraine, Candidate of Law Sciences, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine

GENDER ASPECTS OF THE COMPETITION TO THE SUPREME COURT

The article reflected the results of the competition for the 120 positions to the newly created Supreme Court, (30 for each of four cassation courts – administrative, commercial, criminal and civil) within the Supreme Court. Judges, practicing lawyers (advocates) and academics with 10+ years of professional experience could participate in this competition and this surely should contribute to the judicial diversity.

Women in the Judiciary share with women generally the difficulties in the reaching higher or leadership positions (Shultz, Shaw 2013) therefore the first open competition to the Supreme Court which started in Ukraine on November 7, 2016 deserves a specific analyses in terms of feminization of the highest court – is it happening?

The main results of data that have been already obtained are as follows:

(1) only 34,56% of candidates admitted to the competition were women. That is less than average ratio of female judges in Ukraine (according to our previous research (2015) the ratio of female judges is 47,88 % in general courts, 52,82 % in commercial and 49,48 % in administrative). That confirmed the statement that women apply less.

(2) ratio of women slightly increased for every step of the competition and reached 37,93% enrolled to the rating list.

(3) However, percentage of women among 120 winners (top 30candidates for each of 4 cassation courts) were much higher (45%), moreover, in 2 cassation courts women turned out to be the majority (16 out of 30), and for administrative jurisdiction this ban be seen as a breakout.

(4) Interviews with winners reflected some gender stereotypes about women’s social roles – some female candidates experienced comments regarding their caregiving obligations during the interview.

Key words: gender, gender composition of the judiciary, gender stereotypes, justice, Supreme Court.

References

Statement of the G7 Ambassadors on the Supreme Court Selection Process. URL: http://www.ambkiev.esteri.it/ambasciata_kiev/it/ambasciata/news/dall_ambasciata/statement-of-the-g7-ambassadors_1.html#.WhbSBSl9g8t.twitter.[engl.]

See: Forming a New Supreme Court: Key Lessons. January 2018. URL: http://www.dejure.foundation/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%96%D0%B7-%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8F-%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE-%D0%92%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%85%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE-%D0%A1%D1%83%D0%B4%D1%83_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9.pdf. [engl.]

Schultz U., Shaw G. Gender and Judging. 2013.[deu.]

See.: Indicators of Gender Equality. Prepared by the Task Force on Indicators of Gender Equality. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Conference of European Statisticians. New York and Geneva, 2015. P. 9, 86–88, 92. [engl.]

See, for example, the UK report «Judicial Diversity: Accelerating Change». URL: http://ukscblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Judicial-Diversity-Accelerating-Change.pdf. [engl.]

The new Supreme Court will house 120 judges. URL: https://vkksu.gov.ua/ua/news/u-nowomu-wierchownomu-sudi-praciuwatimut-120-suddiw/ [ukr.]

846 candidates applied to the Supreme Court. URL: https://vkksu.gov.ua/ua/news/846-kandidatiw-podali-dokumienti-na-konkurs-u-wierchownij-sud/.[ukr.]

653 candidates will take part in the competition for the posts of judges of the Supreme Court.URL: https://vkksu.gov.ua/ua/news/653-kandidati-wizmut-utchast-u-konkursi-na-posadi-suddiw-wierchownogo-sudu/. [ukir.]

"One in three out of 653 candidates for a Supreme Court judge is an out-of-system lawyer," said Sergei Koziakov, the head of the CCSSU. URL: https://vkksu.gov.ua/en/news/kozien-trietij-iz-653-kandidatiw-u-suddi-wierchownogo-sudu-prawnik-z-poza-sistiemi-golowa-wkksu-siergij-koziakow/ [ukr.]

Announcement: On February 16, the Commission launches a qualification assessment in the competition before the Supreme Court. URL: https://vkksu.gov.ua/en/news/anons-16-liutogo-komisiia-rozpotchinae-kwalifikacijnie-ociniuwannia-w-ramkach-konkursu-do-wierchownogo-sudu/

Overall results of the examination during the competition before the Supreme Court. URL: https://vkksu.gov.ua/en/news/zagalni-resultati-ispitu-pid-tchas-konkursu-do-wierchownogo-sudu/. [ukr.]

Rating of candidates for the competition. URL: https://vkksu.gov.ua/en/konkurs-do-wierchownogo-sudu/rie rating-kandidatiw-dlia-utchasti-u-konkursi/ [ukr.]

Fulei TI Gender composition of the Judicial Corps of Ukraine. Bulletin of the Supreme Court of Ukraine. 2015. No. 4 (176). Pp. 41–47.[ukr.]

The SAA of Ukraine has for the first time analyzed the gender composition of judges and employees of local and appellate courts of Ukraine. URL: https://court.gov.ua/press/news/466405. [ukr.]

Sandberg Cheryl. Get involved! Women, Work, and the Will to Lead Behind / With the Participation of Nell Skovel; foreword by Natalia Yaresko; trans. from English. Victoria Narozhnaya. K .: Critique, 2015. 280 p. (Sheryl Sandberg and Nell Scovell. Women, Work and the Will to Lead, Alfred A. Knopf New York, 2013). [engl.]

George Deesvaux. A Business Case for Women / George Deesvaux, Sandrine Devillard-Hoellinger and Mary C. Meaney. The McKinsey Quarterly (September 2008).  URL: http://www.talentnaardetop.nl/uploaded_files/document/2008_A_business_case_for_women.pdf. [engl.]

Session of the High Council of Justice 14–25.09.2017 (20.09.2017). URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plXNIjWJFv0 (3.45.20 - 3.46.08). [ukr.]

Session of the High Council of Justice 14–25.09.2017 (15.09.2017). URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXUkWnRyXbo (06/06/05 - 08/08/07). [ukr.]

Session of the High Council of Justice 14–25.09.2017 (21.09.2017). URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp2wQuEYpwU 6.18.36 - 6.23.11. [ukr.]

Report. Analytical study of women's participation in the labor force of Ukraine. K., 2012. 212 p. URL: http://www.idss.org.ua/monografii/2013_ua_womens%20participation.pdf. [ukr.]