Women in Robes: The Phenomenon of Overrepresentation of Women in the Judiciary, VV-MVP-24-0118

About the project

Women in Robes: The Phenomenon of Overrepresentation of Women in the Judiciary,  VV-MVP-24-0118

Principal Investigator: JUDr. Mária Vaško Havelková, PhD.

Research Department: 050599 - Other disciplines related to legal sciences 

Implementation: 2025 - 2028

The overrepresentation of women within the judiciary is a notable trend across post-Soviet nations, including the Slovak Republic, where 63 percent of judges are women, exceeding the European average by over 10 percent. This phenomenon of judicial feminization remains largely unexplored in the Slovak context. This project aims to bridge the knowledge gap by exploring factors influencing the high representation of women in the Slovak judiciary. It will also analyze vertical (across court levels), horizontal (across case types) and power-based (leadership) gender representation in Slovak courts. Additionally, the project aims to investigate the impact of the judge gender on judicial decision-making in criminal and family law matters. To achieve these objectives, the research team will collect and disaggregate judicial data by gender, conduct semi-structured interviews with judges, and analyze decision-making of district courts. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary research team will address a critical gap in international literature and employ an innovative experimental study design to investigate the effect of perceived judge gender on public trust, fairness of a decision, and satisfaction with the judicial process. This aims to uncover unconscious biases citizens may hold towards judges based on their gender. Understanding these dynamics is essential for building a more transparent and trustworthy judicial system, particularly in a country with significant gender imbalances across courts and case types, and where public confidence in judicial impartiality remains low.The project findings will be published in high-ranking, peer-reviewed international journals and integrated into legal education. Recommendations for achieving a gender-balanced judiciary will be disseminated among key stakeholders, including court representatives, the Ministry of Justice, the Judicial Council and legal academia.