Conflicting testimony: Judges' and attorneys' perceptions of gender bias in legal settings

Statewide samples of women judges (N = 40), men judges (N = 326), women attorneys (N = 414), men attorneys (N = 288) in Florida rated the extent to which judges and attorneys of both genders engage in different forms of biased behavior against women in legal settings. Women judges and attorneys are most aware of gender-biased behavior against women. Women judges differ, especially, from men judges in perceiving other judges as behaving unprofessionally toward women. Multiple regression results show that this gender gap in perceptions is partly a function of age. This study suggests that promotion of more women to judgeships and educational efforts aimed at the younger generation of men judges will be productive in reducing biased treatment of women in the legal system.We are especially grateful to Barry Sapolsky for providing us with data from the Florida Gender Bias Study Commission surveys of judges and attorneys. We also wish to thank Patricia Martin and Irene Padavic for their thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.