In a study released last month, a University at Albany report found that Equal representation of women on the nation's federal and state judicial benches remains elusive.
A report by UAlbany's Center for Women in Government & Civil Society (CWGCS) of the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy finds that nationwide, women make up 22 percent of all federal judges and 26 percent of all state-level positions. Thirteen states fell below the 20 percent mark in the overall state judgeships filled by women. While no state has achieved equality in state-level judgeships, eight states have achieved a threshold of 33 percent women, the study found.
The report finds that only two states - New Jersey and Connecticut - have achieved critical mass of 33 percent of women's share of federal judgeships. In most states, women make up approximately 20 percent of federal judgeships. Women's share of the federal bench is at 10 percent or less in eight states, and women judges are nearly absent from the federal courts of Montana and New Hampshire.The study goes on to report that pockets of disparity exist within states: in New York State's northern district, 15 district and magistrate judges serve on the bench. None of them are women, despite a qualified pool of 359 women judges serving on state-level benches in New York.
The report also states that the gap cannot be attributed to a lack of women who are qualified to serve on the bench; nationally, women comprise 48 percent of law school graduates and 45 percent of law firm associates, according to the American Bar Association.