The Capital Region lags behind the rest of the state and the country in the appointment and election of women to the judiciary, according to a new report released by the Center for Women in Government & Civil Society at the University at Albany.
Women comprise 22 percent of all federal judgeships, according to the report. But in the Northern District of New York, a 26-county area that includes the Capital Region, there are 15 men and no women on either the Federal District Court or Federal Magistrate benches, despite “a large qualified pool” of 359 female judges on state-level benches.
“From taking a look at the report, you can tell that this is a national issue, but for the Northern District of New York, it’s even more critical,” said Joann Sternheimer, president elect of the Capital District Women’s Bar Association and a partner at Deily, Mooney & Glastetter, LLP in Albany. “The lack of diversity on the bench is more noticeable here. It’s more glaring.”
The numbers of women and minorities in the judiciary is the subject of an upcoming program on the legal profession.
The event, titled “Why Diversity in the Judiciary and Legal Profession Matters: Charting New Pathways,” will be March 31 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in the East Wing Classroom at Albany Law School. It is sponsored by the Women’s Bar Association, in conjunction with the Center for Women in Government, the Fund for Modern Courts, the Capital District Black and Hispanic Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.
dead last
According to the Center for Women in Government report, titled “Women in Federal and State-level Judgeships,” the Capital Region ranks dead last among the state’s 13 judicial districts in the appointment and election of women. Fifty percent of the judges in the first judicial district in Manhattan are women, while only 17 percent of the judges in the third and fourth judicial districts (which encompass Albany and 17 surrounding counties) are women.
In the U.S., women occupy 26 percent of all federal and state-level judgeships, according to the report. In New York, women comprise 25 percent of all federal judgeships, and 30 percent of all state judgeships; the report ranks New York 18th out of all 50 states for female representation in federal judgeships, and 14th for the number of women in state judgeships.
Since the mid-1980s, women have made up about half of all law school graduates, and 45 percent of law school associates. And locally, two women serve as county district attorneys: Louise K. Sira in Fulton County and Kathleen B. Hogan in Warren County. But women have failed to advance to judgeships at the same rate as men, despite the sizable pool of qualified female attorneys. Men, said Dina Refki, executive director of the Center for Women in Government & Civil Society, still have more opportunities.
“Women don’t have access,” Refki said. “There are gatekeepers. The pool is there, so why aren’t we having equal representation? Why aren’t there more women on the bench? I hope the program can bring attention to this problem, and I hope people realize how important it is to bring diverse perspectives to the bench. I hope that in the future something will be done to nominate more women.”
Refki noted that party leaders nominate people for judgeships, and suggested this might be one reason why women are so poorly represented in the Capital Region. “Perhaps there are more conservative views upstate, as opposed to downstate,” she said. Women might also face more challenges in balancing work and family, she said.
Refki said the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court last year helped highlight the need for more women on the bench.
This is the first time the Center for Women in Government & Civil Society has studied women in the judiciary, but the findings are similar to studies of women in other parts of government.
“It’s a typical trend, the under-participation of women,” Refki said.
“Why Diversity in the Judiciary and Legal Profession Matters” is free.
The deadline for registration is March 26.
Categories: Schenectady County
