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Role of Women in the Indian Judiciary
Context:
Over the past century, women in India have made significant strides in the legal profession.
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- The journey began with Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman lawyer entitled to practice in 1924.
- Since then, the presence of women in the legal field has grown steadily, with many being designated as Senior Advocates and serving as judges in the lower judiciary.
- However, despite these advancements, women continue to face significant challenges in reaching the higher echelons of the judiciary.
Glass Ceiling in Higher Judiciary
- High Courts: Women constitute only 14.27% of the judges in High Courts, with 109 women out of 764 judges.
- Alarmingly, eight High Courts have just one woman judge, while the High Courts of Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, and Tripura have none.
- The Allahabad High Court, the country’s largest, has a mere three women judges out of 79 (2%).
- Furthermore, women judges tend to be appointed later than men, with an average age of 53 years compared to 51.8 years for men, reducing their chances of attaining seniority.
- Among the 25 High Courts, only the Gujarat High Court currently has a woman Chief Justice.
- Supreme Court: The situation is even more concerning in the Supreme Court, where only two women, Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Bela Trivedi, are presently serving.
- With Justice Trivedi set to retire in June 2025, the Supreme Court will be left with just one woman judge.
- Since 2021, while 28 judges have been appointed to the Supreme Court, none have been women.
- Historically, the Supreme Court has directly elevated nine men from the Bar, but only one woman has been given this opportunity.
Systemic Barriers to Women’s Representation
- Several justifications are often cited for the underrepresentation of women in the higher judiciary, such as a lack of eligible candidates, fewer senior women lawyers, or a perceived lack of interest among women to become judges.
- However, these explanations fail to address the systemic biases that continue to exclude women.
- Deep-rooted inequality within the legal profession subjects women to heightened scrutiny, forcing them to prove their merit to a greater extent than their male counterparts.
- Additionally, the opaque collegium system, which oversees judicial appointments, operates without clearly defined criteria for eligibility or merit.
- The decision-making process is dominated by men, with little effort to identify and elevate competent women lawyers.
- Even when women’s names are recommended, they face disproportionate rejection.
- Since 2020, nine women were recommended for High Court appointments but were not confirmed. In five of these cases, they were the only ones rejected from the list.
Towards a Gender-Equal Judiciary
Ensuring greater representation of women in the judiciary is crucial for making the courts more inclusive and representative of the people they serve. Gender diversity on the Bench not only enhances the legitimacy of judicial institutions but also reinforces public confidence in the judiciary’s impartiality and fairness.
To achieve this, concrete steps must be taken:
- Transparent and Inclusive Appointment Processes: The collegium should establish clear and transparent selection criteria, including a process for lawyers to express interest in judicial appointments.
- Selection must be based on excellence and integrity, with a specified timeframe for making recommendations.
- Gender Diversity as a Priority: Just as caste, religion, and regional representation are considered in judicial appointments, gender diversity should also be a critical factor.
- A target of at least one-third representation for women, if not half, should be established in the higher judiciary.
- Commitment to Merit and Diversity: A judiciary that prioritises competence, independence, and diversity will not only uphold constitutional values but also enhance public trust in the institution.
- Gender balance must be explicitly stated as an objective in judicial appointments to ensure a more equitable legal system.
