When There Are Nine (Or Eleven): Montgomery County Courts Help Set the Pace for Gender Equity in the Ohio Judiciary

By The Honorable Mary Wiseman Montgomery County Common Pleas Court mary.wiseman@montcourt.oh.gov

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once was asked how many female Supreme Court Justices would be “enough.” She famously replied, “When there are nine.” As she explained, “People are shocked [by the answer]. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.” Although Justice Ginsburg’s “when there are nine” response may currently seem an improbable but laudable goal for the United States Supreme Court, without doubt the Ohio judiciary is slowly moving in the direction of improved gender equity.

Statistics collected annually by the National Institute of Women Judges show that Ohio’s Courts of Common Pleas overall are comprised of 36% women in 2023. In Ohio, women compose 52% of the overall population. Ohio is similar to the national average of 33% female judges elected to general jurisdiction courts. Ohio has experienced slow but consistent increases over time in its overall number of female judges. For example, today in the Summit County Common Pleas Court General Division, all ten of the judges are women.

The Montgomery County Common Pleas Court General Division now boasts a 55% portion of female jurists. This marks the first time that the

General Division’s judiciary has a majority female composition. The present six women on the General Division’s bench, out of eleven judges, are: Mary Katherine Huffman (soon moving to the Second District Court of Appeals), Mary Wiseman, Mary Montgomery, Susan Solle, Kim Melnick, and Angie Jackson. Similarly, the Common Pleas Court Juvenile Division is now 100% female, with newlyelected Judge Julie Bruns joining Judge Helen Wallace on that bench. Further, the Common Pleas Court Domestic Relations Division remains at 50% female, with Judge Denise Cross continuing her judicial tenure. Judge Cross serves as the Presiding Judge over the full Common Pleas Court bench.

Judge Cross began her judicial service in 2001 and presently is the most senior jurist on the Common Pleas bench. Also, for the first time, the Administrative Judge position for three of the four divisions (General, Juvenile, and Domestic Relations) is filled by a female. That being said, we are grateful for the opportunity to work with all of our male colleagues, including Probate Division Judge David Brannon, Domestic Relations Division Judge Tim Wood, and my General Division brethren, Judges Timothy O’Connell, Steve Dankof, Dennis Adkins, Dick

Skelton, and Gerald Parker.

The current Common Pleas Court composition, of course, is complemented by an impressive cadre of female judges at all levels of our local justice system. Those highly esteemed judges include (soon to be retired) Judge Mary Donovan, Judge Cynthia Heck, Judge Peggy Quinn, Judge Alyse Rettich, Judge Deidre Logan, Judge Mia Wortham Spells, and federally, my friends, Judge Sharon Ovington and Judge Caroline Gentry.1 This listing excludes the many outstanding women magistrates that assist our municipal and Common Pleas courts.

All of the current judges, male and female, owe this remarkable progress on gender equity within the judiciary to fearless and trailblazing female judges that include Judge Lillian Kern, elected to the Common Pleas Domestic Relations Division in 1977. Judge Barbara Gorman joined the Common Pleas General Division ten years later, in 1987.

ENDNOTES:

Judge Gorman graciously served as a mentor and role model for many of the women judges serving on the bench. Judge Alice McCollum began with the Dayton Municipal Court and ultimately concluded her long and distinguished judicial service as the first and only female judge to serve in our Probate Division. Judge Francis McGee, Judge Adele Riley, and Judge Connie Price also served on the General Division bench and Judge Judy King served the Domestic Relations Division. In other words, the current judiciary stands on the shoulders of these giants that paved the way towards greater gender equity and representation in our local courts.2 Credit for progress also belongs to many of our male colleagues, past and present, that serve as strong advocates for all facets of diversity, equity, and inclusion, including gender. Notable in that regard are current Judges Steve Dankof, Dennis Adkins, Gerald Parker, Walter H. Rice, and retired Judge Jeff Froelich.

Just as judges serve as leaders within the justice system, women judges also serve as leaders within the broader community. Thus, their presence and active community roles hopefully will inspire and encourage greater gender equity in all segments of society and especially in the legal profession. That progress and improvement remains vital, as modern studies consistently show persistent gender gaps within the legal profession. Those gaps include unfair income and advancement disparities in comparison to males. As those gaps continue to narrow, we must strive for improved gender equity in all facets of the legal profession. Montgomery County is helping lead the way on gender equity in the judiciary.

ENDNOTES:

2By consolidating the names of the Common Pleas Court’s women judges in this article, a false impression may arise that there always have been a lot of women judges in Montgomery County. The magnitude of the historic under-representation of women on the General Division bench, however, is easily revealed by listing the General Division’s male judges in the modern era, with the caveat that my records only go back to 1934, meaning the list omits men serving in Montgomery County from Ohio statehood (1803) until 1934, a consequential, missing span of 131 years during which time all judges were male. The male judges, past and current, on the General Division bench from 1934 onward are: Martin (34), Ferguson (71), Wollfe (77), Dodge (85), Mills (36), Brenton (67), Krehibiel (73), Yeazel (77), Thomas (42), Rice (1871), Brown (80), Sunderland (97), Davis (03), Singer (05), Skelton (15), McBride (54), Gounaris (75), Porter (85), Langer (95), C. Kessler (61), Foley (91), McQuiston (00), Wagner (00), Dankof (11), Edwards (65), Phillips (71), Kilpatrick (79), Gowdown (96), O’Connell (07), Love (69), J. Kessler (81), MacMillan (77), Froelich (95), Krumholtz (13), Meagher (77), Tucker (01), Blaine (17), Parker (19), Gilvary (91), Hall (99), Adkins (11), and Petzold (91). Thus, in the modern era (from 1934 to present) of the General Division, there have been 42 men serving as General Division judges and only nine women. Using this historically incomplete roster that goes back to only 1934 (thus omitting the men serving in the missing 131 years of records available to me), women have constituted a mere 21% of the General Division’s judicial positions in the modern(ish) era. Women composed zero percent of the county judiciary for 174 years, until Judge Lillian Kern commenced her service.

By Arvin Miller, Non-Profit Clearinghouse Subcommittee Co-Chair