Judges reorganize themselves due to compliance with promotion rule – 01/21/2024 – Power

Months after facing resistance from the courts to the resolution that created the alternation of exclusive lists of women in the promotions of judges to the second instance based on the criteria of merit, magistrates across the country have been working together to expand mobilization for the cause.

The goal is to ensure compliance with the rule approved by the CNJ (National Council of Justice), which came into effect this month, promote training on the topic and encourage dialogue to advance the gender parity agenda. Independent collectives have been created.

The pressure exerted by them was one of the factors that contributed to the approval of the text. In September, judges created a WhatsApp group, collected signatures and raised funds to pay for representatives to go to Brasília to follow the voting sessions on the text.

Although there are already representations of women in the main judicial associations in the country, some of the judges understand that the majority of these groups did not defend the resolution due to pressure from male members.

Faced with uncertainty about support in the face of possible episodes of non-compliance with the rule, after approval by the CNJ, the judges decided to make the National Movement for Parity an independent collective. To this end, they created a charter of principles and elected nine representatives and two substitutes to coordinate the group.

“The movement took shape in a magnanimous way, because we suffered or suffer the same prejudices, interruptions in our speeches and competition that is not fair to us, our family and our CV”, says judge Elayne Cantuária, of the TJ-AP (Amapá Court of Justice), one of the elected coordinators.

According to her, the initiative has 1,600 members from different branches of the Judiciary and is also open to male judges. “The movement is not for or against anyone, only in favor of parity. It is a participatory and dialogical movement”, she says.

Judge Eldom Santos, from TJ-PR (Paraná Court of Justice), was vice-president of Fonavid (National Forum of Domestic Violence Judges) when he found out about the group and joined it.

“The presence of women in spaces of power can bring a more diverse perspective to the country’s structural problems and facilitate the fight against domestic violence, racist structures and homotransphobia”, he says.

He states that the majority of colleagues agree with the judges’ demands and that it is necessary to expand the debate on the structural nature of gender-based violence.

“Over time, masculinities have been favored by this structure and it is now necessary to think about the point of view of equality”, he concludes.

Cantuária states that, starting this month, the movement should seek agendas with representatives of different institutions and legal career movements across the country.

“We need these arms to reach the states, the Federal Courts, to build the necessary solutions from there”, he states.

In Paraná, the Antígona Collective, formed by 200 of the state’s 358 female judges, was the first independent group of female judges in the country, created in July 2022.

“The collective was born from the discovery that there are places where we do not feel represented and we need to speak for ourselves, not for the association and not for the court”, says judge Laryssa Copack, who coordinates the group with six other judges.

Divided into commissions, the judges work to expand understanding of the so-called “glass ceiling”.

“Often women don’t take on a commissioned position, for example, assisting the management, because they can’t work 12 hours a day without having the support of someone in the family to pick up their children from school,” he says.

In the state, they managed to get parity approved by state court competition boards and promote meetings to expand understanding on the topic. In March, Antígona will hold a national meeting of collectives in the country.

The group served as a reference for the Maria Firmina Group, in Maranhão, in August. Coordinator of the movement, judge Sônia Amaral states that after joining the second instance of the Maranhão Court of Justice she realized that she needed to do something to change the low representation of women in this sphere.

“We have to build knowledge about this. We have a few judges who are against the fight for parity. We still have to prepare to discuss the issue”, he says. Of the 116 female judges in the state, 113 are part of the group.

Amaral draws attention to the subjective criteria that are used in promotions based on merit in the courts and to issues that interest them and end up discussed at lunches and dinners in which they do not participate.

Another group created last year was Sankofa, formed by 120 active and retired judges from the State Court, the Labor Court and the Federal Court in São Paulo who are part of the National Movement for Parity, which should be formalized next month.

“The judges noticed a common denominator, which is institutionalized gender discrimination in the Judiciary, in relation to gender and also ethnic-racial”, says retired judge Angélica de Maria Mello de Almeida, from the group’s provisional committee.

In September, the TJ-SP (São Paulo Court of Justice) asked to postpone the debate on the resolution for promotions. In the country’s largest court there are 356 judges in the second instance. Of these, 286 are career magistrates, of which 30 are women, representing less than 10%.

This week, the court should publish the first notice with an exclusive list of women that came to the attention of the CNJ. The process was approved by the court on Tuesday (16), as shown by the Sheet.

“This CNJ resolution gives this discussion a different level by saying that the problem of gender discrimination exists and needs to be faced”, says Almeida.

The president of Anamatra (National Association of Labor Justice Magistrates), Luciana Conforti, states that the entity was the only representative of the national judiciary to express support for the text at the time.

She states that she understands the creation of the national movement as something broader and not as divisive. For this year, Conforti adds that monitoring the implementation of the resolution will be a priority for Anamatra Mulheres.

The report tried to contact Ajufe (Association of Federal Judges of Brazil) and AMB (Association of Brazilian Magistrates), but received no response.

At the time of approval of the new rule by the CNJ, the council that brings together the presidents of the 27 courts of justice in the states and the Federal District was the main opponent of changes. In a technical note signed in September, the entity said that the modification should be made through formal law and was outside the regulatory scope of the CNJ.

He also stated that in the Constitution there is “an eloquent silence regarding the gender criteria for analyzing seniority and merit” in the promotions of magistrates to the second instance.

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What does the new rule on promotion of career judges say?

• The National Council of Justice approved in September, under the presidency of Minister Rosa Weber, now retired, a rule that provides for gender alternation in the merit-based promotion of career judges.
• Vacancies in the 2nd instance are opened upon the departure of a magistrate, which can occur due to death, voluntary or compulsory retirement, at age 75.
• These positions are filled alternately between seniority, which takes into account the date of entry into court, and merit, where there is political influence and subjective criteria.
• With the new rule, if there are less than 40% women in the second instance of the State, Federal and Labor Courts, the court must apply affirmative action.
• The rule starts to be applied based on the last promotion by seniority. If the person promoted was a man, the next merit promotion will be made from an exclusive list of women.
• The rule does not apply to the Regional Electoral and Military Justice Courts.
• The goal is to achieve gender parity in the courts. Once the number of women reaches 40%, the court will no longer be obliged to apply the rule.