Female judges reflect change in attitudes

PROVO — Along with her black robes, Judge Claudia Laycock wears a small silver necklace with a crown on it, a good-natured reminder to her male colleagues that she is the "queen" of 4th District Court.

Laycock was the first woman to take the bench in 4th District Court in 2001 but is being joined this month by Christine Johnson, a former public defender and Spanish Fork city prosecutor.

Although the appointment doubles the female perspective in the 4th District, both women are quick to point out that their gender should not affect how they handle cases.

"If as a woman, I treat women differently who appear in front of me, then I'm a failure as a judge," Laycock recently told a group of BYU alumnae and wives of professors. "I must treat them just the same as the other 11 male judges would, because otherwise it's not fair justice."

That was the answer she gave to the judicial nominating committee when they asked why the district needed a woman judge. She added it would be a mistake if the governor picked her just because it was "time" for a woman.

"He should choose a person best qualified to do this job," Laycock said.

Laycock's ascension to the bench, as well as that of more than two dozen other women in Utah's judicial system, represents a dramatic shift in the view of women in government and the professional world, Laycock said.

Laycock asked the group of white-haired women to think back on things that previously had been denied to women.

The group listed off owning property, voting, holding elected office (except for being queen), flying a plane, driving a car, serving on juries or even testifying as a witness.

One woman mentioned that her mother was asked to quit teaching school when she became pregnant.

Even Laycock, a single woman, would have been precluded from signing her own contract without her father as a cosigner just 30 years ago, she said.

But now, in 2009, things have definitely changed.

After trading a career as a language arts teacher at Dixon Junior High School in Provo, Laycock went to law school and eventually ended up in the Utah County Attorney's Office as a criminal prosecutor for 12 years.