How do New Zealand judges view men?

Here is a quote from "A View From the Bench" by Anthony Hubbard, (published in the Listener, May 4 1996, pp.33-5), reporting on an interview with Chief Justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum:

"He accepts the feminist argument that there are big barriers to women's advancement in the law. 'I think the whole system is oriented towards the ethos of the work-driven male, and the expectations are largely male expectations.'"

This seems like gender-stereotyping. It suggests that the system is unable to accept the possibility of a family-focused male. How having more women judges, work-driven or otherwise, will help alter that is not clear.

Perhaps we need judges who are more aware that some people, both women and men, put a high priority on family. The suggestion that "work-driven expectations" are synonymous with "male expectations" is of concern. It appears that this is yet another example of inappropriate sweeping generalisations about men. For others, see here, here and here.

Stuart Birks

23 May, 1996