39. It’s a Man’s Man’s World - Renee Geyer
This is a man's world
But it wouldn't be nothing
Nothing not one little thing
Without a woman or a girl
So, this is old news for me, but I’m sharing it anyhow.
As I discussed in Post
37, I was up for jury duty a few months back. In this post I discussed how
I had little to no chance of actually being selected as a juror because of my
gender, age and education. Well, I had it wrong. I’ve apparently watched too
many Hollywood movies and didn’t have any idea about the New South Wales (NSW)
jury process.
My first take home is that it is
very refreshing to now know that juror “selection” in NSW is (almost) totally
randomised. We were all assigned a number and then it was a lottery draw as to
who’s numbers were drawn out. That said, the defence then had the opportunity
to make three challenges to jurors without explanation as to why they didn’t
want them there. Surprise, surprise, they challenged the three youngest
females, who also happened to be very well dressed as if they were going to
their high-paying professional jobs if they didn’t make the jury.
I felt like I only missed out on
being challenged by about five years and for wearing slacks and a jumper rather
than business attire.
Anyhow, moving on and another surprise,
surprise moment was when a beyond middle-age white male self-appointed as
the head juror.
Sound familiar? Read Post
37 again then.
Even though the judge gave the
entire jury very clear directions that no single juror’s opinion is more valid
or carries more weight than any other juror, not even the head juror’s, we
still had to endure the misguided middle aged male.
This guy
told us straight up that he’d studied first year law at uni. No, I don’t know
what the relevance of this titbit was, but he put it out there anyhow. I did
want to point out to him that he was on the jury to represent the community not
for his legal prowess, but I let it slide.
This guy
repeatedly attempted to talk over the females to get his views across. He even
resorted to name calling when he felt that he wasn’t being listened to. I
understand his frustration at not being listened to. I’ve been there myself.
But he should be making sure he’s saying something of value if he wants to be
listened to in a tense environment, such as a jury room. Beyond that, trying to
denigrate people just because they don’t agree with you is not a way to make
friends and influence people.
Once the
hearing was finished and we had to come up with a verdict we had just two of
the twelve jurors that were sitting on the not guilty side of the fence. One of
them was a solicitor who was struggling to take his solicitor’s hat off. But
after many questions to the judge seeking clarity of our role and the evidence
that had been presented, he realised that he wasn’t there to represent the
accused or to blow holes in the evidence, just to make a decision based on the
case that had been presented. He ended up concluding that the accused was
guilty.
Then there
was our problem child. He originally took the same stance as the other not
guilty juror. No hard evidence, other possible explanations, we don’t
really know who did it. He even tried to lead us down the garden path with
alternate theories. However, once he realised that no one was listening to him,
and once the other not guilty juror flipped, he was quick to flip
without explanation.
While the
first not guilty juror had valid but misguided reasons for his view, he
owned his decisions the whole way through. The pain in the arse not guilty
juror, simply flipped when he didn’t get his way and started to sulk about
it. Now, this may just be a personality trait of this guy, but could you imagine
if a female had carried on like that in this situation? Can you imagine a
female having the audacity to denigrate other jurors.
Why do females have to be the
mature gender when males think they rule the world?
As a final note, once it was all
done and dusted a retired female juror said to me, in relation to the defence
team, something to the effect of:
‘They thought I’d be a push
over just because I’m old and female.’
It’s most
definitely not a man’s world anymore, despite beliefs, dated perceptions and all
the other dated social norms some males seem to be holding onto. Be it actual
or perceived.
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