The Smurfette Principle: Some reflections about gender and the nomination of women to the international bench

This chapter discusses international judges’ paths towards the bench, arguing that more attention should be paid to the nomination process, rather than focusing only on elections. It dwells on the so-called Smurfette principle, an image borrowed from the contemporary analysis of popular visual culture about the role of ‘the one woman’ singled out in a group of men—and what this means for women on the bench. In looking at how to increase the number of women on the bench, the chapter reflects on who selects candidates and how, and what institutional mechanisms exist, or could be established, to improve the gender balance. This entails an analysis of the importance of domestic selection mechanisms, including the role of the national group of the Permanent Court of Arbitration as a forum for the selection of candidates. The central idea is that a gender balance cannot be fully achieved through elections so it needs to be pursued in the preparatory stage. Finally, the chapter addresses questions about potential improvements of selection processes as the possibilities of the current system may at times be under-explored.