Women in the Courtroom

Abstract

Examining roughly 6 million civil judgments in China during the period 2014--2018, we document that gender disparities in litigation outcomes are present and prevalent and that male judges discriminate against female plaintiffs more than female judges do. Exploiting an open justice reform where an increasing fraction of trials were broadcast online, we find that the disadvantage of female plaintiffs (relative to male plaintiffs) becomes smaller when the broadcast intensity increases and that male judges reduce the gender gap to a larger extent than female judges do. We show that the reform is effective because judges' decision-making processes become more visible.

Keywords: Judicial Reform; Gender Bias; Judge; Litigant; Transparency.

JEL Classification: K10; K4; O12; P16; P48