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One of the most significant changes in the last half of the 20th century is the greater participation of women in traditionally male-dominated professional occupations, including the judiciary. Nevertheless, despite increasing numbers of women, they still make up only a small proportion of the judiciary. This article considers two specific aspects of women's experiences of and attitudes towards judging: first, their reasons for becoming judges and second, the extent to which they are satisfied with the judicial role and their work as judges. The findings are drawn from responses to two separate mailback questionnaires conducted in 2007, one of magistrates, and another of judges of the higher courts. Together the surveys and their responses cover the entire Australian judiciary. These findings provide an important case study of women judges in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]