Is Justice male or female?

I had never really thought about it before, always assuming that Justice was a hermaphrodite or asexual (something I read into more of the cards such as the fool). However, being a philosopher, this thread has raised an interesting point. I possibly should not read psychological philosophy into my cards, but they mean to me what they do. Carol Gilligan studied ethical development in women compared to that of men, and found that women develop an ethical system that she terms the ethics of care. This feminine ethics is based on special relationships and partiality towards individuals they care about, resulting in special treatment. Masculine ethics however, is based on universal treatments such as consquentialist theories which are completely impartial to the people the agent cares about. She terms this masculine ethics the ethics of Justice.

I guess what this rant is trying to say is if the character Justice is indeed female, then it is relavent to me on a philosophical level as women who are exercising an ethics of justice seem unnaturally cold and harsh, where I usually see the figure on this card as divinely fair.

A woman with big cajones!

Faeryty, that is a very thoughtful account! So, if Justice is female has this changed your feelings about the card? You know, I think I have thought of Justice as asexual/hermaphrodite also, and have tried to adapt to Rachel Pollacks view of Justice as female.

But I have an update! after writing my post, I found a great book in Borders a day or so later called 'The complete new tarot' by Onno and Rob Docters van Leeuwen (Dutch!).It is full of really thought-provoking stuff, but has a section on gender of the major arcana. Against justice it says;-

'Justice -Male, also with a balanced animus and anima, and wearing a toga that hides sexual features.The archetypal figure in Justice has open eyes.In this way he can see both sides of any conflict that he has to resolve.Often justice is depicted as female to emphasize the compassion that is necessary in proper judgement'.

More food for thought I hope.

Thank you andalucia. I think for me, one of the most important things about tarot is not necessarily what the artist or their director put into the card, but what you get out of it. My relationship with my cards allows me to see things in them that probably aren't there for anyone else, but i feel this adds value to readings, not taking anything away.

As such I don't think I will take as true anything anyone else says about a card, even though it may be what Waite (or whomever) intended. I think it all depends on surrounding cards. That allows me more flexibility in my readings - the ability to stay reading justice as I always have, or if I feel a strong female influence else, perhaps I will interpret more into my philosophical background detailed above.

Thank you for that quote from The Complete New Tarot. It does indeed give me more food for thought and hopefully I can take it on board.

I'm relatively new to Tarot and found this idea quite interesting. When I first looked at the card I thought Justice was a male image. However after reading some from books and reading this thread came to a different conclusion. Between what Joan Bunning and faeryty have to say, a female personality would be reasonable. Bunning makes a correlation between Justice and The Emperor with the Emperor represently underlying structure in disciplinary action and Justice, on the other hand, relating more to the karmic laws of cause and effect. Male influence wants control. Female influence allows a more natural outcome to work itself through in balance. Regardless male or female I'm still left with the feelings of a righteous outcome would arrive in due time.

To me Justice is neither male nor female. It is a precept, a value, an ethic or maybe I don't know the correct word to use.

If that is an Adams apple in the picture, like the hanged man ( the only two cards with Adam apples in the Radiant then someone is interpreting the card as male. In the Albano deck from '68 Justice has much shorter hair and a masculine look but no Adams apple. (everyone has one but men's are more pronounced for a few reasons.) The card justice does not need a sex to me but I think I always thought of it as...well it...


In the Rider deck I often use waistlines as one of many clues she gives us to determine sex, Pamela C Smith seemed to use higher waist lines on her women. Pages for example as a study of her artwork, not divination.

La Justice, La Justizia, Die Gerechtigkeit, the words are all feminine. In Western thought, the virtue has always been portrayed as female. Unquestionably female. Now, "Judgement" is another story.

Konnichi Wa to All:

I have always considered the Justice Card as being Female.


KNR - The Beast 3X3

I know this has sort of gone off-track, but since Justice can be related to Libra, sometimes the male can be like the female and the female can be like the male in a relationship. The man is more likely to do things to keep everyone happy, to keep the peace, while the woman is the decision maker. So, that is how it can make it seem like even though the person in the Justice card is female, they can appear to be male, because that is how things can be, that the woman is the one that wears the pants! So, it is like a role reversal, if you like.