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Women judges: accession at the state court level

Williams, Margaret Susan
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1092171263

Abstract Details

2004, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Political Science.
While political science has conducted research studying judicial elections, little of this work has focused on how actors move from the pool of potential candidates to becoming a candidate for the judiciary. Like the congressional literature, a clearly defined pool of candidates can provide the researcher insight into a selection process occurring prior to the election itself. This research analyzes the process of becoming a state judge, but beyond knowing the process this research will identify the determinants of women’s representation on the judiciary. I posit three types of explanations for the statistical under-representation of women as judges and for variation in women’s representation. I use two studies to test these explanations. The first study analyzes the factors associated with the proportion of a state’s judges who are female. I find that the pool of women eligible to serve as judges and state selection systems help to explain variation across the states. The second study uses data from surveys of lawyers and judges in Texas to systematically analyze perceptions and experiences of seeking judgeships in that state, and thus to probe the alternative explanations. The survey analysis suggests that women’s presentation on state courts can be explained by the characteristics they possess and the perceptions of the judiciary they hold. Not only do their characteristics affect their likelihood of attaining a seat on a state bench but they also affect a woman’s ambition for the judiciary. The overwhelming conclusion is that while women attain seats at the same rate as their male counterparts, all else being equal, their perceptions of the judiciary as well as the characteristics they more often possess decrease their likelihood of running for the judiciary.
Lawrence Baum (Advisor)
215 p.
Political Science, General
Judges; Representation; Gender

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Williams, M. S. (2004). Women judges: accession at the state court level [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1092171263

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Williams, Margaret. Women judges: accession at the state court level. 2004. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1092171263.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Williams, Margaret. "Women judges: accession at the state court level." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1092171263

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1092171263
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© 2004, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.