Gender component in the initial judicial training curriculum

Abstract

The Strategy for the Development of Judicial Education in Ukraine for 2021–2025 considers regular update of the judicial education content based on the competence approach, judges' experience and individual needs, level and court specialization. The Strategy also considers enhancing values and social context while developing and delivering trainings. Among strategic aims of judicial education development is initial judicial training reform that requires, inter alia, curriculum updating. The article presents the research results on mainstreaming of gender component in the initial judicial training curriculum as well as corresponding recommendations. Among recommendations, there is improving of the initial judicial training curriculum with a 1-day training course «Overcoming gender stereotypes in administration of justice». The course was developed to have judges familiar with correlation between «gender stereotypes – prejudice – gender - based discrimination», how gender stereotypes influence judge's behavior and decision-making, and also to build up and strengthentheir skills to identify gender stereotypes, apply corresponding ECtHR case law, avoid gender bias in their daily work, etc. To build up gender competence of future judges, some gender aspects should be incorporated into a series of trainings on family, housing and labor disputes (in the Civil judiciary part), sexual violence, sentencing in criminal cases (in the Criminal one). Some gender related issues worth to be integrated in corresponding trainings, e.g. divorce prohibition due to Ukrainian Family Code (Art. 110, part 2), disputes on parenting children, equal treatment of men and women in cases of deprivation of parental rights, offender eviction, compliance with effective investigation standards in criminal proceedings on rape, other crimes against sexual freedom and sexual integrity or domestic violence cases. Actually, both gender mainstreaming and social context of justice should be integrated with due consideration of the role and place of each training in the curriculum, learning goals and expected outcomes, accompanied by careful selection of training materials and most effective modern interactive methods of adult education. Keywords: gender, gender competence, judicial education, initial judicial training.