ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT This article traces how gender equality has evolved conceptually and provides
an overview of the educational initiatives in place for raising gender awareness among
members of the NSW judiciary. The author gives examples of gender bias and explores
some of the seminal policy and legislative responses at state and federal levels during the
reformist decades of the 1970s to the 1990s. North American jurisdictions played an
important role in raising judicial awareness of gender bias in the 1980s, with this issue
coming to prominence in Australia in the 1990s. The author describes the work of the
Judicial Commission of NSW in this area, including training sessions on gender equality,
both discrete and as part of integrated education initiatives; its involvement with the
National Judicial Orientation Program; and the launch of its Equality before the Law
Bench Book in 2006.
