Diversity of Judges?

Three groups have agreed on action points to increase the diversity of the judiciary in the United Kingdom. The Judicial Appoints Committee, the Bar Council and the Law Society. Mentoring schemes focusing on wider groups and help with selection processes through filmed role plays, are two proposals.

In New Zealand about a quarter of judges are women and this figure remains stable. Ethnicity figures are not available. In 2007 the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women committee in its concluding comments on New Zealand urged concrete action and the establishment of goals and timeframes to improve the judiciary’s gender balance.