Abstract
This article examines women judges and prosecutors in post-war Taiwan based on the author’s understanding of current research on women’s professional history, gender culture and feminist legal studies in Taiwan. Oral histories, memoirs, biographical reports and governmental documents are collected and analyzed to show the emergence and growing numbers of women judges and prosecutors, their professional choices in the legal fields, and possible (or lack of) feminist conceptions expressed in their practices. Three conclusions are reached. First, Taiwanese women entered legal practices later than they took up other professional occupations, most likely due to the different characteristics between legal judgment and traditional gender roles. In the past seven decades, however, more than one thousand women chose legal professions because of reasons ranging from inspiration of senior family members and ideals to pursue righteousness, to seeking security in governmental jobs. Secondly, most women preferred the positions of judges to prosecutors, and women judges favored civil courts over criminal cases in their career planning. Affiliations with family issues in civil cases and masculinity in the prosecutors’ working environment may have contributed to the gender division of professional choices. Thirdly, women judges and prosecutors expressed their feminist ideas, if any, often through a kind of sisterhood in which senior judges supported junior ones and supervisors advocated for their subordinates. The continuous interactions and social gatherings among women judges of different age groups eventually formed the basis for the Taiwan Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges and Prosecutors. Since they were recruited to their posts through national examination and worked in a martial law era before 1987, women legal professionals rarely challenged existing litigation institutions or judicial systems. While a handful showed feminist sentiments through their court documents, most abided by the positivist objectivism in their practices. Some did share their legal knowledge through speeches and publications to inform and to help their sisters in society. However, it was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s, when political and social movements transformed Taiwan, that women judges and prosecutors began to speak out and act on their feminist concerns.
Keywords
Taiwan, legal profession, women judges, women prosecutors, gender
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