Keeping women off the jury in 1920s England and Wales

Abstract

The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 ended the prohibition on female jurors. This did not mean that English and Welsh juries became representative institutions overnight, however: the property qualifications ensured that juries were still drawn from the top few per cent of the local population; and the 1919 Act expressly permitted trial judges to order single‐sex juries where the nature of the evidence required it. The continued existence of peremptory challenges allowed defendants in felony trials to exclude women from their juries whenever they preferred to be tried only by men. Finally, some judges permitted female jurors to excuse themselves from particular trials if they so desired. This paper explores the effects these factors had on the practical enjoyment of the female jury franchise after the passing of the 1919 Act. It finds that the picture is remarkably localised: rates of women serving on juries were very different for the five assize circuits for which adequate records exist (Midland, Oxford, South Eastern, South Wales and Western). By exploring these issues, this paper reveals how flexible the female jury franchise was in its early years, and shows how important local differences were in keeping women off the jury.

Gender discrimination and juries in the 20th century

“…Presumably this speaks to the massive impact of the English women's movement, and women's engagement in World War 1 support activities, features absent (at least in intensity) elsewhere. The legal basis for women's jury franchise reform at this time was section 1 of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, 8 which created significant change to the 4 See further Thornton (2004); Logan (2013); Anwar, Bayer and Hjalmarsson (2016); Crosby (2017). 5 See below.…”

“…Indeed, by the time they wrote in 1978, Albie Sachs and Joan Hoff Wilson (1978: 175) felt able to note with optimism that '[t]he solitary area of judicial activity where gender equality has been achieved has been in relation to the jury'. If this observation is accurate, the abolition of the property qualification must have played a significant role, though, as Crosby's research indicates (Crosby, 2017), and as the other common law jurisdictions reveal, the perception of equality may be distorted by decisions made out of sight. 74…”

“…In addition, though males clearly still dominated the jury, more than 20 percent of the post-reform juries had at least three female jurors (25 percent of seated jurors).These findings may be contrasted with those generated by research conducted by Crosby. First, it was found that, in England and Wales as a whole, the percentage of summoned jurors who were female decreased steadily between 1922 and 1929, both in those locations where jurors were summoned by sheriffs and in those locations where jurors were summoned by borough clerks (Table 1: Crosby, 2017: 704–705).…”

“…Second, Crosby’s study of the number of women who made it on to an actual jury in five assize circuits revealed considerable regional variation, as well, again, as a steady decline over time (Table 2: Crosby, 2017: 704–705).…”

A Matter of Public Interest: Press Coverage of the Outfits of Women MPs 1918–1930

“…Cowman: A Matter of Public Interest 11 there were regional variations with some areas tending to look for a fifty-percent gender balance, no jury was entirely comprised of women(Morgan, 2017). The next General Election of 1923 saw thirty-four women candidates, the largest number to date, but almost 1,500 men.…”