The appointment of Isabelle Perello as president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and of the Supreme Court is something historicalThis is the first time that something has changed in the picture of the opening ceremony of the judicial year, with for the first time a woman at the head of the governing body of judges and the higher court.
An image, however, still dominated by men, which reflects the under-representation of women in top positions decision-making, although they are the majority in the judicial career. “The presidencies of the High Courts of Justice are fundamentally male,” illustrates Rosa María Gil, president of the Association of Women Lawyers Themis.This must change” he says.
The truth is that from now on A woman chairs the most important body of the judiciary, an appointment that marks a turning point in the judiciary, more than half a century after the first female judge in Spain took office in 1972. In fact, Gil recalls, it was only in 2020 that María Luisa Segoviano became the first woman to preside over a chamber of the Supreme Court.
And this despite the fact that Women are in the majority in judicial careersof which they represent 57.2%. “In all oppositions to justice, there is a strong female presence,” confirms the president of Thémis. An example is Maria Iglesias Gooda young judge of the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 1 of Verín, Ourense. “We were 74% of the class, in my class there were four boys; there were 20 of us and only four boys,” he recalls.
For young judges like her, Perelló’s appointment “is of course a message sent to society that It’s judges time, now it’s our turn“. “It’s still a bit slow, we would like it to be faster, but what is it? is unstoppable“, he maintains.
Although they are more numerous, there are fewer and fewer women as we reach higher positions: for example, in the National Court, they represent only 41.3% and in the Supreme Court, only 21.1%. They therefore claim their place: “If we represent 57% of the race, what is normal is that This majority is reflected in the positions in which decisions are made.” said Bueno. For this reason, they hope that the appointment of Perelló will mark the beginning of change.
