Does gender diversity in panels of judges matter? Evidence from French child support cases

Abstract

International audience In this article, we examine whether and to what extent the gender composition of a panel of three judges may have an impact on its decision in a civil law system characterized by a very large representation of females among judges. From a database of 2000 decisions from French Courts of Appeal, we show that the gender composition of panels of judges have a significant effect on the amounts of child support. More specifically, our results show that panels composed of three female judges set higher child support amounts than mixed panels, regardless of the gender of the creditor. In addition, the diminishing effect of the panel's gender mix is particularly pronounced when the creditor is a man and the mixed panel is composed of two women and one man.