ONLY TWO WANGANUI WOMEN ARE JURORS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 94, 24 April 1946, Page 4

ONLY TWO WANGANUI WOMEN ARE JURORS

Only two women’s names are included in the jury list recently completed for the Wanganui police district, and they have been there for about three years. Whereas all adult males, with certain specified exceptions, are liable to be called on for jury service, women, under the Women Jurors' Act, 1942, are only included on jury lists at their own request, subject to the same character qualifications which apply to males. One of the two women jurors listed for service at sessions of the Supreme Court in Wanganui was called on one occasion, but was stood down by counsel, and neither has yet sat on a case. No woman has yet been empanelled on a Wellington jury, but one has taken her place in the box in Auckland. Jury service apparently does not appeal to the average woman, and even in a city the size of Wellington only 12 have volunteered. This fact was commented on by two women J.P.’s who sat recently on the Wellington district Reviewing Committee of Justices. When they discovered that voluntary application was necessary the two women J.P.’s promptly applied to have their names added to the jury list, and this was done. The total of male jurors on the Wanganui list is approximately 1700, so.that the chances of the two women being called for service even, apart from actually participating in a trial, are remote ones.