Blog 22 Gender expectations and Stereotypes

Gender expectations and stereotypes exist in every profession and even more so in traditionally male work environments. None have been more traditionally male than the Supreme Court; in over two centuries only three women have been appointed to the Justice position. (1) Sonia Sotomayor was the third female and first Latina to ever be appointed to Supreme Court justice. Her nomination raised questions about how the stereotypical expectations of gender and race would come into play. First of all a deep gender bias exists in Court System of the United States because it disputed that a woman’s gender will make a difference in judging, and of course it does. However, Fred Strebeigh argues in his book, Equal: Women Reshape American Law, that Sotomayor is willing to address this issue directly and her response will be an indicator of her truthfulness and accuracy as a judge. (2)

Her race was also used to evaluate her qualifications to be a Supreme Court judge. After republicans and democrats voted to determine her appointment, it was revealed that she got all but 9 of the republican votes. With her nomination coming from a democratic president and a democratic majority in the house, it seems almost anti-Hispanic for republicans to vote against a sure bet. The republicans quickly attested that they voted against her not because of her race, but because they believed she would judge from an overly liberal standpoint. This stemmed from the stereotype that Latinos usually vote for the Democratic Party i.e. liberal party. When Sotomayer got wind of this she was outraged because she believes that, “Stereotyping is perhaps the most insidious of all problems in our society today.” (3)

Finally, it was argued by many that because she would use her position to make law instead of interpret it, especially in regards to affirmative action. This argument started after it was reported that her full ride to Yale was based on affirmative action practices. The same was said about her nomination; that President Obama was looking for a female to fill David Souter’s position and that having a Hispanic female fill this role was like a double whammy. This is such an insult to all women and Latinos’ because it implies that a person who falls under these categories cannot succeed without affirmative action. (4)

1. http://womensissues.about.com/od/genderwarriors/a/HistoryWomenSCOTUS.htm
2. http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2009/06/05/the-supreme-court-is-short-on-women-and-sotomayors-a-good-start.html?PageNr=2
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor
4. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124334029177454217.html