Does Gender Blindness Improve Gender Equality? Female Judges and the Glass Ceiling Effect in the Islamic Judicial System in Indonesia
| Author | Achmad Kholiq,Iim Halimatusa’diyah |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/09646639221094153 |
| Published date | 01 February 2023 |
| Date | 01 February 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Does Gender Blindness
Improve Gender Equality?
Female Judges and the
Glass Ceiling Effect
in the Islamic Judicial
System in Indonesia
Achmad Kholiq
IAIN Syekh Nurjati, Cirebon, Indonesia
Iim Halimatusa’diyah
Department of Sociology, State Islamic University
(UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Tangerang
Selatan, Indonesia
Abstract
Despite the increasing participation of women judges worldwide, including in Muslim
countries, the glass ceiling effect in female judges’careers remains persistent. Using
the Islamic judicial system in Indonesia as a case study, this article aims to analyze the
representation of female judges and examine why the glass ceiling effect exists in the
Islamic judicial system in Indonesia. Drawing on interviews with twenty judges in various
provinces in Indonesia and analyzing the gendered organization framework, this article
argues that gender blindness in the Islamic judicial organization has contributed to the
persistence of gender inequality and the glass ceiling effect. This article also argues
that a gender-neutral setting contributes to sustaining or encouraging gendered practices
within organizations. Furthermore, focusing on work-life balance as the only solution for
addressing the under-representation of women in the public sphere does not necessarily
ease them from caring responsibilities as the gendered division of labor in the domestic
sphere has not changed. Therefore, we suggest that making the judicial system a gender
Corresponding author:
Iim Halimatusa’diyah, The Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Jl.
Kertamukti No. 5 Pisangan, Ciputat Timur, Tangerang Selatan, Banten 15419, Indonesia.
Email: iim_hs@uinjkt.ac.id
Article
Social & Legal Studies
2023, Vol. 32(1) 139–158
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/09646639221094153
journals.sagepub.com/home/sls
transformative organization is essential in order to reduce the glass ceiling effect in the
Islamic judicial system in Indonesia.
Keywords
Female judges, gender blindness, gendered organization, glass ceiling effect, Islamic
judiciary
Introduction
Increasing the presence of female judges in the judicial system is important to promote
equality of opportunity, representativeness, and diversity (Feenan, 2008). However,
achieving equality for female judges in terms of representation at all levels of the judi-
ciary remains a challenge for many countries.
The existing works on women judge primarily look at the appointment of women
judges (Schultz & Masengu, 2020; Sonneveld & Lindbekk, 2017a), their judicial educa-
tion (Schultz, 2014; Schultz et al., 2017), and their judging (Feenan, 2008; Hunter et al.,
2010; Hunter, 2015; Schultz and Shaw, 2013b). Such studies have been conducted not
only in western contexts such as the United States (O’Connor and Azzarelli, 2011),
Canada (Backhouse, 2017; Brooks, 2010), Portugal (Duarte et al., 2014), and Northern
Ireland (Feenan, 2008) but also in the Muslim world. While some Muslim countries
have no women judges at all, Saudi Arabia, for example, the majority of Muslim coun-
tries have no restrictions on female judges. It is common to find women judges in various
Muslim majority populations such as Sudan, Palestinian, Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia,
Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and others (Abdelkader,
2014). Studies have shown that women’s participation in the judicial system has
increased in Muslim countries (Sonneveld and Lindbekk, 2017b; UNESCWA, 2019).
However, few works have studied the career path of female judges in the judicial
system. Most of the works on these countries did not specifically examine the extent
to which women are represented in different levels of courts and why the glass ceiling
effect persists in the Islamic judicial system.
To fill in the gap in the literature, this study aims to examine the representation of
women judges in different levels of courts and different hierarchal managerial positions
in the Islamic judicial system in Indonesia. The country provides an excellent case to
study the role of female judges in the Muslim world. First, Indonesia has the largest
Muslim population in the world (World Population Review, 2021). Although it is not
an Islamic state, Indonesia has both civil and Islamic judicial systems. Second, among
other Muslim countries, Indonesia has been considered the pioneer of accepting
women judges in its judicial system (Nurlaelawati and Salim, 2013). Third, while
Indonesia is at the forefront in welcoming women judges, it is still unclear the extent
to which the gender gap exists in the Islamic judicial system in the country and what
factors contribute to this gap. Fourth, among available studies on the Indonesian
context, they mainly focused on one or several Islamic courts. Therefore, this study
aims to provide a more comprehensive view of the general situation in Indonesia and
an in-depth understanding of women’s positions in the judicial system.
140 Social & Legal Studies 32(1)
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