Collegiality and feminist leadership

Gabrielle Appleby and Sarah Murray

Chapter 20 in Elgar Companion to Female Chief Justices in Comparative Perspective, 2026, pp 418-441 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: As the first female Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Susan Kiefel AC actively avoided identifying herself as a feminist judge, and frequently downplayed the discriminatory, gendered experience of women in the modern Australian legal profession. Yet, more than just as a trailblazing female lawyer and jurist, her legacy has been defined by a focus on collegiality, and the instrumental benefits of collegiality, particularly on an apex court, as well as her response to allegations of sexual harassment by a member of her own Court towards the end of her tenure. In this chapter, we explore the tendency to consider female leaders to have a greater focus on collegiality in their leadership style in the unique legal and judicial context, and the problems of reinforcing the femaleness of leaders as opposed to considering leadership characteristics as highly contextual.

Keywords: Collegiality; Feminist collegiality; Judicial collegiality; Sexual harassment; Women in law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035308637
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