The number of women in the United States judiciary has increased as more women have entered law school, but women still face significant barriers in pursuing legal careers.
History
Women have long faced significant barriers to entering the legal profession in the U.S., and any steps forward were frequently followed by setbacks. For example, in June 1869, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that Arabella Mansfield could not be denied a chance to take the bar exam because she was a woman. She took the exam and passed, becoming the first licensed female lawyer in the United States. However, just 6 years later, in 1875, the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied Lavinia Goodell admission to the state bar on the grounds that "[n]ature has tempered woman as little for the juridical conflicts of the court room, as for the physical conflicts of the battle field. Womanhood is moulded [sic] for gentler and better things."In Re Goodell 39 Wis. 232 (1875); Supreme Court of Wisconsin; Retrieved July 31, 2012
In 1872, the United States Supreme Court affirmed a decision from the Supreme Court of Illinois that denied Myra Bradwell admission to the state bar. The state Supreme Court had reasoned that because state law invalidated any contract entered into by a married woman without the consent of her husband, women (most of whom would be married) could not adequately represent their clients. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, noting that even though some women might not actually be married, such women were the rare exceptions. The U.S. Supreme Court noted:
Also in 1872, the Utah Bar admitted its first two women, Phoebe Couzins and Georgianna Snow.
In Washington, D.C., Belva Ann Lockwood lobbied Congress on three separate occasions to change the U.S. Supreme Court admissions rules to allow a woman to argue before the court. Her efforts succeeded. Lockwood was sworn in as the first woman member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar on March 3, 1879. Late in 1880, she became the first woman lawyer to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Mary Bartelme was appointed assistant judge in Cook County, Illinois in 1913, where she presided over court cases involving juveniles and was referred to at that time as, "America's only woman judge", by The New York Times. In 1914, Georgia Bullock was appointed the "woman judge" of Los Angeles, in charge of a court segregated by sex where "she would serve as a model of Victorian ideals of womanhood for female misdemeanants".
Ratified in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote. During this time, women began assuming judgeships, through both appointment and election. One such woman was Mary O'Toole, who became the first woman municipal judge of the United States, when she was appointed Judge of the Municipal Court of Washington, D.C. by President Harding in 1921.
Barring women from practicing law was prohibited in the U.S. in 1971. In 1975, Julia Cooper Mack was appointed to the D.C. Court of Appeals, making her the first woman of color, and only the eighth woman total, to be appointed to a court of last resort. By 1993, 60 women had served on the highest court in forty states, the District, and the federal courts. As of 2001, women filled 26.3% of the judgeships on state courts of last resort, 19.2% of federal district court judgeships, 20.1% of federal appellate judgeships, and as of 2018, 33.3% of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. She received unanimous Senate approval. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, commenting on women pursuing careers, observed that "women professionals still have primary responsibility for the children and the housekeeping, spending roughly twice as much time on these cares as do their professional husbands."
In 1992, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit convened the first federal all-female three-judge panel, composed of Sixth Circuit judges Alice M. Batchelder and Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy, alongside the Eastern District of Michigan's Anna Diggs Taylor, sitting by designation. On the global scale, Joan Donoghue is the first American female to serve as a Judge (2010) and President (2021) of the International Court of Justice.
Gender bias and barriers to entry in the US courts Since 1992, women's representation in law school classes has approached 50%. And by 2021, women constituted 55% of law students, 45% of law faculty, and 42% of law deans. However, the percentage of female federal judges is fairly lower. As of 2016, only 36% of judges on the federal courts of appeals were women, that is 60 out of 167 active judges. Women represented only 15% of judges on the Third Circuit, only 20% of judges on the Eight Circuit and only 25% of judges on the Tenth Circuit. As for women of color, there is even a smaller number. Only 12 women (7% of judges) of color were on the U.S. courts of appeals.
Inappropriate interactions Many of the task forces found both explicit and implicit unacceptable treatment of female lawyers by male judges. For instance, in 1988, a senior status federal district court judge refused to address a female attorney as 'Ms.' and threatened to hold her in contempt if she persisted in using her birth name rather than her married name. Women judges also report hearing more disparaging remarks than male judges do.
Notable women judges
State judges
First female justice of the peace: Esther Hobart Morris in 1870 First elected female justice of the peace: Catherine Waugh McCulloch (1886) in 1907 First female probate judge: Mary H. Cooper in 1908: First female juvenile judge: Mary Bartelme (1894) in 1913 First female elected judge: Florence E. Allen (1914) in 1920 First female municipal judge: Mary O'Toole (1914) in 1921 First female police judge: Julia W. Ker (1912) in 1926 First African American female: Jane Bolin (1932) in 1939 First sisters to simultaneously serve as judges: Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy (1947) and Margaret G. Schaeffer (1948) First African American female (elected judge): Geraldine Bledsoe Ford in 1966 First Hispanic American female (county court judge): Dorothy Comstock Riley in 1972 First African American female (probate court): Edith Jacqueline Ingram Grant in 1973 First Latino American female: Frances Munoz (1972) in 1978 First openly lesbian: Abby Soven in 1978 First Chinese American female: Patricia A. Yim Cowett (1972) in 1979 First Native American (Ojibwe) female (federal judge): Margaret Treuer (1977) in 1983 First Filipino American female: Lillian Y. Lim (1977) in 1986 First Vietnamese American female: Wendy Duong (1984) in 1992 First Dominican American (female) elected: Faviola Soto (1979) in 1994 First Muslim American female to preside over an American courtroom: Zakia Mahasa in 1997 First Indian American female: Rena M. Van Tine (1986) in 2001 First Hispanic American (female) to preside as an arbitrator on an American television court show: Marilyn Milian in 2001Millian served as a Judge of the Miami Circuit Court prior to her television debut. First Korean American female: Jeannie Hong (1993) in 2002 First Muslim American female: Mona K. Majzoub in 2004 First Colombian American (female): Catalina M. Avalos in 2005 First Arab American female: Charlene Mekled Elder in 2006 First Ethiopian American (female): Nina Ashenafi-Richardson in 2008 First Ecuadorian American (female) elected: Carmen Velasquez in 2009 First known Pakistani American female: Pamela Leeming in 2009 First transgender woman: Phyllis Frye (1981) in 2010 First Egyptian American female elected: Sherrie Mikhail Miday (2001) in 2016 First Hasidic Jewish American female elected: Rachel Freier (2006) in 2017 First Hmong American females: Kashoua "Kristy" Yang (2009) and Sophia Y. Vuelo (1999) in 2017 First Sikh female: Neetu Badhan Smith in 2017 First Cambodian American (female): Jana Seng in 2018 First Armenian-born (female): Amy Ashvanian in 2018 First Indian American female (elected): Juli Mathew in 2018 First Indonesian American female: Marissa Hutabarat (2010) in 2020 First Tibetan American (female): Tsering Cornell in 2022 First Laotian American (female): Chanpone Sinlapasai in 2022 First hijab-wearing: Nadia Kahf in 2023 First Sri-Lankan American female: Divani Nadaraja in 2023 First Afghan American (female): Malalai Farooqi in 2026 First Yemeni American female: Assma Ali in 2026
State Appellate Court
First female: Arleigh M. Woods (1953) in 1980
State Supreme Court
First female: Florence E. Allen (1914) in 1922 First female to serve as chief justice: Lorna E. Lockwood (1925) in 1970 First Hispanic American female: Dorothy Comstock Riley in 1982 First Japanese American female: Paula A. Nakayama in 1993 First African American female to serve as chief justice: Leah Ward Sears (1980) in 2005 First openly lesbian: Virginia Linder (1980) in 2007 First openly lesbian to serve as chief justice: Maite Oronoz Rodríguez (2001) in 2016 First Native American (female): Anne McKeig in 2016 First Armenian American female: Gabrielle Wolohojian in 2024
Federal judges
First female (federal judge): Kathryn Sellers (1911) in 1918 First female Article III federal judge: Florence E. Allen in 1934 First African American female (federal judge): Constance Baker Motley (1946) in 1966 First Italian American female (federal judge): Veronica DiCarlo Wicker First African American female (court of last resort): Julia Cooper Mack (1951) in 1975 First Mexican American female (federal judge): Irma Elsa Gonzalez (1973) in 1984 First Guatemalan American female (federal judge): Lourdes Baird in 1992 First Asian American female (federal judge): Marilyn Go in 1993 First openly lesbian African American (federal judge): Deborah Batts (1972) in 1994 First Cuban American female (federal judge): Cecilia Altonaga (1983) in 2003 First Chinese American female (federal judge): Dolly M. Gee (1984) in 2010 First Korean American female (federal judge): Lucy H. Koh (1993) in 2010 First South Asian female (federal judge): Cathy Bissoon (1993) in 2011 First Filipino American female (federal judge): Lorna G. Schofield (1981) in 2012 First Afro-Caribbean-born (female): Margo Kitsy Brodie in 2012 First openly lesbian Asian American (federal judge): Pamela K. Chen (1986) in 2013 First openly lesbian Latino American (federal judge): Nitza Quiñones Alejandro (1975) in 2013 First Native American (Hopi) female (federal judge): Diane Humetewa (1993) in 2014 First Indian American (female) federal judge: Alka Sagar in 2014 First Assyrian American (female) (federal judge): Hala Y. Jarbou in 2020 First Greek American female (federal judge): Eleni M. Roumel in 2020 First Navajo Nation (female) (federal judge): Sunshine Sykes in 2022 First Muslim American female and Bangladeshi American [female] (federal judge): Nusrat Choudhury in 2023 First Native Hawaiian female: Shanlyn A.S. Park in 2023
U.S. Bankruptcy Court
First female Referee in Bankruptcy: Florence Olson in 1898 First African American female: Bernice B. Donald in 1988
U.S. District Court
First female: Burnita Shelton Matthews (1919) in 1949 First Puerto Rican American female: Carmen Consuelo Cerezo (1969) in 1980 First Asian American female: Susan Oki Mollway (1981) in 1988
U.S. Magistrate
First African American female (chief magistrate): Joyce London Alexander (1972) in 1979
U.S. Circuit Court (Intermediate Appellate Courts)
First female: Florence E. Allen (1914) in 1934 First African American female: Amalya Lyle Kearse (c. 1960s) in 1979 First Hispanic American female: Kim McLane Wardlaw (1979) in 1998 First openly lesbian African American (Seventh Circuit): Staci Michelle Yandle (1987) in 2014 First Vietnamese American and Asian-Pacific female: Jacqueline Nguyen (1991) in 2012 First South Asian female (federal court of appeals): Neomi Rao in 2019