Equal employment opportunity and representation: Extending the frame to courts

The system of selecting judges in Britain is undergoing major transformation in the area of integration of women. Three lawsuits helped place the gender of judges on the agenda, moving the issue into the mainstream of political concern. By contributing to the extension of the concepts of equal employment opportunity and representation to encompass the selection of judges, they helped paved the way for the appointment of more women judges. In this essay I explore why discursive change matters, why the courts in Britain are an important venue for observing this change, and what this process has to do with the wider issue of the European Union's effect on national-level feminist politics.