On October 28, 2023, the USAID Rule of Law Program supported Rule of Law Practice Groups’ (Freedom of Information and Women’s Rights) member judges met with representatives of women’s rights organizations, the Legal Aid Service (LAS), and the Georgian Bar Association (GBA). The meeting centered around discussing gender stereotypes and sexist expressions in courts with the aim of considering solutions to ensure more equal treatment of women in the courtroom.

Human Rights Expert, Besarion Bokhashvili and European Human Rights Advocacy Center (EHRAC) Senior Legal Consultant, Kate Levine, presented on the standards of international human rights law and legal ethics applicable to discrimination against women in courtrooms through gender stereotypes and sexist expressions. Ms. Levine provided an overview of the relevant ethical and legal standards applicable to barristers, solicitors, and judges in England and Wales, along with examples of how courts are balancing the principle of non-discrimination against lawyers' freedom of speech.

Ms. Levine highlighted the role of the Bar Standards Board in enforcing the Core Duties and Code of Conduct of barristers, particularly the newly adopted Social Media Guidance. She emphasized that certain sexist and discriminatory posts by barristers can serve as grounds for liability, even if they are not related to any legal proceedings. Given the European Human Rights Advocacy Center's history of partnering with Georgian CSOs on strategic litigation before international tribunals, particularly in the area of violence against women, Ms. Levine was well aware of the problems of sexism, sexual harassment, and gender stereotyping in courtrooms. She focused on those aspects of best practices from the UK that are particularly relevant to Georgia.

This was followed by a panel presentation and discussion led by Irma Togonidze, a judge from Batumi City Court. Anna Tavkhelidze from the local NGO Partnership for Human Rights (PHR) and Kethy Bakhtadze from the Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group spoke about the experiences of gender discrimination suffered by women parties and women lawyers in courts.  Ms. Bakhtadze stated, "the issue of sexist statements in courts is, in fact, the issue of women's equal access to justice." When considering ways to secure more equality for women in courts, the second panel led by Tamar Khazhomia, a judge from Tbilisi City Court, focused on possible solutions.

Baia Pataraia from Union Sapari and Inga Beridze from the GBA Ethics Commission delivered speeches related to proportional measures and strategies to counter discriminatory speech in the courtroom. They also discussed the respective roles of judges and the GBA ethics commission in the effective prevention of sexism and discriminatory speech in the courtrooms by attorneys. Several decisions of the GBA Ethics Commission were critically analyzed, and the Commission received direct feedback from Women’s Rights CSOs on the problems women encounter when defending their rights from the abusive behavior of certain lawyers.

All the participants agreed that the Bar Code of Professional Conduct needs to be revised and updated to align with the principles of non-discrimination and equal treatment. However, in addition to amending the Code, as Judge Khazhomia noted, part of the problem of sexism in courtrooms stems from the lack of communication among the main stakeholders: the litigants, the judges, and the GBA Ethics Commission. In this regard, the meeting was crucial for coordinating the strategies of all these actors against sexism in the courtrooms.