Judges across the country have a reputations for being 'male, pale and stale', but it would seem among the lower ranks at least one of these accusations is now unfounded.

A magistrates association has used positive discrimination in its job adverts to get more men to fill the unpaid roles to deal low level crimes.

The recruitment information, published by the Ministry of Justice, shows that during a drive to fill 48 vacancies Avon and Somerset were trying to diversify from a bench presumably dominated by white women who were not working full time.

At a time when many businesses are struggling to address the gender pay gap, the advert noted: "To maintain a Bench that is representative of the Community we would particularly like to encourage applications from men, members of Black and Minority Ethnic communities, people in paid employment and people with a disability."

A spokesman for the judiciary was unable to provide details of how many men sit on the bench in Avon and Somerset, or whether the drive to entice them into the service was successful, but nationally the proportion of female JPs is 54 per cent, reaching over 60 per cent in some areas such as Leicestershire, Northampton and Surrey .

John Bache, Chairman of the Magistrates Association, said that he "would imagine that they have more female than male magistrates and they are trying to make it more balanced."

He added: "We are very keen on getting a balanced magistracy which reflects the society in which they work."