Context: Indian Courts have been male-dominated institutions. Presently, there is just one woman judge out of the full strength of 34 judges in the Supreme Court. In order to implement inclusive policies, it is necessary to employ a female perspective into the institution.
Relevance of the Topic: Mains: Essay; Under Representation of Women in Judiciary: Reasons and Way Forward.
Introduction
- Over the past century, women in law have made significant progress in India. The first woman lawyer, Cornelia Sorabji, was entitled to practice in 1924. Since then, women have entered the legal profession in increasing numbers, attained the rank of Senior Advocates, and served as judges in the lower judiciary.
- Despite these advancements, women’s representation in the higher judiciary remains alarmingly low, which highlights deep-rooted systemic inequality.
Issue of Glass Ceiling in the Higher Judiciary
Women’s representation in the higher judiciary continues to be minimal.
- Only 13.4% of High Court judges are women.
- In eight High Courts— Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Tripura, and Uttarakhand— there is either no woman judges or just one.
- Allahabad High Court, the largest in the country, has only three women judges out of 79 (2%).
- Only one High Court, the Gujarat High Court, currently has a woman Chief Justice.
- Women judges are appointed at a later age than men, with an average appointment age of 53 years compared to 51.8 years for men. This delay prevents them from reaching senior positions.
At Supreme Court level
The situation in the Supreme Court is even more dire:
- Since 2021, 28 judges have been appointed to the Supreme Court, but none of them are women.
- In the past 75 years, nine men have been elevated directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court, while only one woman has received the same elevation.
- Only 11 women have been appointed to the Supreme Court till date (August 2025), which is a mere 3.8% of total judges appointed since its inception in 1950.
- There is total absence of caste diversity among women judges in the Supreme Court due to non-appointment of women judges from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- The delayed age of appointment for women results in women judges not making it to the Collegium or as Chief Justice of India. The first woman CJI will be Justice B. V. Nagarathna, who is scheduled to be appointed for only 36 days (in 2027).
Reasons for under-representation of women in Judiciary:
1. Barriers to Women’s inclusion:
- Heightened Scrutiny: Women face greater scrutiny when being considered for elevation, with their merit being questioned more rigorously than their male counterparts.
- Entry-level barriers: The Judicial Service Rules in many states require continuous legal practice, which can be challenging for women who need career breaks due to family responsibilities. This restricts their chances of elevation to the Bench.
- Retention challenges: Even when women enter the judiciary, career progression is hampered by rigid transfer policies and lack of support structures, discouraging their long-term participation.
- Infrastructure deficiencies: Many courts lack basic facilities such as separate washrooms, crèches, and family-friendly spaces. A 2019 survey by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy found that nearly 100 district courts lack dedicated washrooms for women, making their daily work environment difficult.
2. Collegium System and alleged gender bias:
- No clearly defined criteria: There are no clearly defined criteria for eligibility, merit, or the selection process.
- Composition: Collegiums, predominantly composed of men, rarely make a concerted effort to identify and elevate qualified women candidates.
- Rejection by the government: Even when women’s names are recommended, they are disproportionately rejected by the government. Since 2020, nine women’s names were recommended for High Court appointments, but five were rejected outright.
Way Forward
1. Transparent Appointment Process:
- Collegium should establish a clear and transparent selection process based on merit.
- Time-bound approvals for collegium recommendations (A timeframe of 90 days is proposed).
2. Gender diversity as a stated objective:
- Gender diversity should be an explicit criterion in judicial appointments, ensuring that at least one-third of judges in the High Courts and Supreme Court are women.
- Adopt Kerala's model of 50% reservation for women in lower judiciary.
- Establish gender diversity targets (33-50%) in higher judiciary appointments.
3. Inclusive infrastructure and policy-level changes:
- Judicial policies should account for women’s specific needs, including maternity benefits and flexible transfer policies.
- Courts must prioritise gender-friendly infrastructure, including sanitary facilities, feeding rooms, and crèches.
- Inclusion of women in the High Court and Supreme Court committees on infrastructure and policy-making to ensure gender-sensitive decision-making.
4. Encouraging women in the legal profession:
- Law firms, bar councils, and judiciary bodies should actively mentor and support women lawyers to build a strong pipeline of candidates for judicial roles.
Carole Pateman’s theory of the “public-private divide” aptly explains how traditionally male-dominated institutions fail to adapt to the inclusion of women. A female-centric gaze in judicial policy-making is necessary to ensure that infrastructure, recruitment, and retention policies are designed with women’s lived realities in mind.