Women in law

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Polity, Indian Judiciary

Source: Business-Standard

Context: Recently, CJI constituted an all-women bench in SC to hear transfer petitions involving matrimonial disputes and bail matters

• • • This is 3^rd such bench.  The 1^st all-women bench was set up in 2013.

Status of women in Judiciary

• • SC: Only 11 women judges have been appointed till now
  • HC: 25 HC has 81 women out of 677 judges
  • Lawyer: Only 15% are women
  • Bar Council: Only 2% of the elected representatives are women.

Reasons for Low Women Representation:

• • Deeply ingrained patriarchy in society
  • More women tend to enter the lower judiciary, however, the opaque working of the Collegium system has been sometimes blamed for their poor representation at a higher level.
  • No Women Reservation in higher judiciary although many states have a reservation policy for women in the lower judiciary.
  • The number of women advocates is still low, reducing the pool from which women judges can be selected.
  • Lack of proper Judicial infrastructureg., women’s washrooms, is another barrier to women in the profession.

Significance of higher women representation in the judiciary:

• • Higher numbers, and greater visibility, of women judges, can increase the willingness of women to seek justice
    • g., A transgender woman as a judge listening to the case of other trans women would inspire confidence in the litigant, as well.
  • Increasing representation of women in the judiciary will give different points of view leading to inclusive policies

Way Forward

• • Sensitisatising and giving emphasis on inclusivity to bring about institutional, social and behavioural change
  • Increasing transparency of working of the collegium system
  • Unless women are empowered, justice cannot be done for them.
  • Some experts have said that there is a need for horizontal reservation for women in higher judiciary.

Insta Links

Women in Judiciary

Mains Links

Q. Account for the status of women in the Indian Judiciary, and examine the benefits of possible wider women representation that is being foreseen in the country with examples. (250 Words)