Justice Is A Woman

Have you ever given much thought to the fact that Justice is a woman? According to the Office of the Curator of the Supreme Court of the United States, “Portraying Justice as a female figures dates back to depictions of Themis and Justicia in ancient mythology. Themis, known for her clear-sightedness, was the Greek Goddess of Justice and Law. In Roman mythology, Justicia (Justice) was one of the four Virtues along with Prudence, Fortitude and Temperance….Over time, Justice became associated with scales to represent impartiality and a sword to symbolize power.”

I have always found it somewhat ironic that Justice, the iconic symbol of the law, is a woman. Historically women have suffered greatly under the law, or perhaps under what we would now consider the failures of the law. (If you want to brush up on the history of the law’s treatment of women, here’s a little primer on Women’s History in America from the Women’s International Center, http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm.) Nevertheless, the law has recently been of great service to the rights of women, including but not limited to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

So what exactly is Justice? Justice could be defined as the principle of fair treatment. In fact, the scales held by Justice are understood to imply a fair balancing of interests between opposing parties. To draw upon the Supreme Court Curator’s discussion above, Justice is the impartial exercise of power.

With all this in mind, do you think the day-to-day practice of law would be any different if it more fully embodied the principle of Justice as a woman? As a way to begin thinking about this, imagine if all or most of the lawyers in your office were women. What if most or all of the partners in your firm were women? What if most or all of the judges were women? Would the practice of law feel different? Would the practice of law be different? Would power, in its myriad of forms small and large, be exercised more impartially?

Your answers may include “yes”, “no”, “maybe”, and “all of the above”. In later blogs, I’ll talk about some of the recent trends regarding the number of women in the profession. Will there someday be a legal profession where the majority of its embodied representatives are women?