The Judiciary Without Women... A Situation That Would Make the 'Goddess of Justice' Cry

Among 116 Courts, 60 Have Zero Female Judges
Slow Change Despite Introduction of the Framework Act on Gender Equality

It has been found that female members are severely underrepresented in committees that decide various policies of the courts. The Framework Act on Gender Equality, enacted in 1996 (formerly the Basic Act on Women’s Development), stipulates measures to expand women's participation in the policy-making process. Accordingly, the executive branch has operated a gender equality management system for over 20 years, but the judiciary remains an exception.

According to data on the status of committee members under the Supreme Court and the Court Administration Office for 2021, 2022, and 2023, received by Kyunghyang Shinmun and the office of Kim Eui-gyeom, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, the number of male members was significantly higher than that of female members.

Overall, the committees under the Supreme Court exceeded the minimum 30% female participation rate recommended by international organizations such as the United Nations over the past three years. As of September, among 102 members participating in 11 committees, 33 were women (32.3%).

However, the situation differs when looking at individual committees. The Judicial Personnel Committee had 2 women out of 11 members, and the Court Chief Selection Advisory Committee had 1 woman out of 4 members. The Supreme Court Justice Candidate Recommendation Committee had 2 women out of 10 members, and the Constitutional Court Justice Candidate Recommendation Committee had 2 women out of 9 members.

The situation was not much different for committees under the Court Administration Office. Among 407 members participating in 46 committees this year, only 62 were women (15.2%). Looking at the numbers by year: in 2021, among 436 members in 45 committees, 39 were women (8.9%); in 2022, among 473 members in 47 committees, 46 were women (9.7%). Even the low figure of 15.2% this year was an improvement.

Furthermore, the Performance Evaluation Committee had 19 members in total but no female members in 2022. The Overseas Training Selection Committee had no women in 2021, but this year, with an increase of 2 members to a total of 7, there are now 2 female members. The Administrative Appeals Committee had 2 women out of 19 members, the Policy Research Service Review Committee had 1 woman out of 9, the Court National Audit Request Review Committee had 1 woman out of 7, and the Judicial Informatization Review Committee had 1 woman out of 10.

There were even committees with no female members at all. The Performance Evaluation Adjustment Committee and the Supreme Court Budget Execution Review Committee were composed solely of male members without any women.

This is fundamentally due to the lack of a properly established gender equality policy system within the judiciary. In the executive branch, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family establishes basic plans for gender equality policies according to the Framework Act on Gender Equality, and each agency implements measures for gender representation accordingly. The Ministry regularly surveys the status of female members in government committees annually, publicly announces agencies that fall short of targets, and recommends improvements. Through these systematic efforts, the average female participation rate in government committees reached 40.2% in 2018 for appointed members.

However, since the Framework Act on Gender Equality explicitly mandates obligations only for central administrative agencies and local governments, the judiciary and legislature are relatively free from these systems.

50.8% of Trial Panels in High Courts Nationwide Have No Female Judges

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Among 118 trial panels in six high courts nationwide (Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, Busan, Gwangju, Suwon), 60 panels (50.8%) had no female judges.

Seoul Central District Court, the largest court in the country, had 26 out of 67 criminal and civil panels (including equal panels) without female judges, accounting for 38.8%. Expanding the scope to include the eight courts in Seoul?Seoul Eastern, Southern, Northern, Western District Courts, Seoul Administrative Court, Seoul Bankruptcy Court, and Seoul Family Court?a total of 56 out of 158 panels (35.4%) had no female judges.

The male judge dominance was more pronounced in high courts located outside the capital. Daejeon High Court had 5 out of 8 panels (62.5%), Daegu High Court had 5 out of 7 panels (71.4%), and Busan High Court had 7 out of 8 panels (87.5%) without female judges. In Busan High Court, all four criminal panels were composed solely of male judges, raising concerns about the difficulty of analyzing cases from diverse perspectives.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has conducted a campaign titled "Women in Justice, Women for Justice" to promote equality in the judiciary. The campaign’s message is "To achieve justice, we need more women in justice."

According to the minutes of the Judicial Administration Advisory Council meeting in June 2020, then-Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo, the chairperson, stated, "I know the legal provisions, so I ensure the female ratio when forming committees," but also expressed concern that "in committees such as the Judicial Personnel Committee, many external recommended members are men, resulting in a lower female ratio."

Meanwhile, Article 21 of the Framework Act on Gender Equality stipulates that committees advising, coordinating, consulting, deliberating, or deciding on administrative affairs must not have more than 60% of members from one gender. Therefore, at least 40% of members should be women. This is to guarantee equal participation of women and men in the policy-making process and to reflect a female perspective in policies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.