What a Difference Difference Makes: Gendered Harms and Judicial Diversity

Abstract

Taking the UK Ministry of Justice’s ongoing quest to ensure a more diverse judiciary as its starting point and backdrop, this paper establishes the House of Lords’ decision in Secretary of State for the Home Department v K(FC); Fornah (FC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2006] as a lens through which to explore the ‘difference’ of the woman judge and, in particular, the developing jurisprudence of Baroness Hale – the first (and only) female law lord in the UK. It argues that Baroness Hale’s candid recognition and articulation of the gendered nature of the experiences and violence in Fornah’s story reveals not only the difference difference (in whatever form) might make to understandings of the judge, judging and justice but also the importance of recognising the transformative potential of judicial diversity to create a space in which difference is celebrated and valued on its own terms, a place where difference can truly make a difference.