JOHANNESBURG - Mpumalanga High Court Judge Anna Kgoele on Monday said patriarchy's a hindrance to the transformation of the judiciary.
This was said with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC)'s interviews under way for vacancies on the country's superior court benches.
Kgoele, who's got her eye on a position at the Supreme Court of Appeal, was the first candidate to take the hot seat.
Gender parity took centre stage once again during her interview.
Kgoele, who is the founding member of the South African Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges, was asked about the effects of patriarchy on the judiciary.
She told the JSC that patriarchy continued to be an issue that inhibited the speedy transformation of the judiciary.
Kgoele described the pace of transformation at present as “very very slow”, especially on the Constitutional Court bench.
Over and above working to achieve better gender parity, she said there also needed to be a focus on transforming mindsets and that there was still a lot of work to be done in this regard.
But she said she fully supported including gender parity considerations in the criteria for judicial appointment.
She said, however, that what was needed was not gender parity for the sake of gender parity.
Instead, women were needed on the bench who would make a real difference and who were competent.
