Sansad TV: Women In Judiciary

In the 71 years of history of the SC, there have been only few women judges — the first was Justice Fathima Beevi, who was elevated to the bench after a long gap of 39 years from the date of establishment of the SC.
There has never been a female Chief Justice. This figure is consistently low across the higher judiciary.
There are only 80 women judges out of the sanctioned strength of 1,113 judges in the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
Only four of these 80 women judges are in the Supreme Court and the other 78 are in various High Courts, comprising only 7.2% of the number of judges.

Challenges to women’s entry into judiciary

A major barrier to women’s recruitment as district judges are the eligibility criteria to take the entrance exams.
Lawyers need to have seven years of continuous legal practice and be in the age bracket of 35-45.
This is a disadvantage for women as many are married by this age and have to take career gaps due to childbirth.
Further, the long and inflexible work hours in law, combined with familial responsibilities, force many women to drop out of practice and they fail to meet the requirement of continuous practice.
Many esteemed lawyers are not elevated to Supreme court Judge, with exception of one such instance i.e. Justice Indira Bannerjee.

Benefits of diversity and gender representation in Supreme court

The entry of women judges into spaces from which they had historically been excluded has been a positive step in the direction of judiciaries being perceived as being more transparent, inclusive, and representative.
By their mere presence, women judges enhance the legitimacy of courts, sending a powerful signal that they are open and accessible to those who seek recourse to justice.
They could contribute far more to justice than improving its appearance: they also contribute significantly to the quality of decision-making, and thus to the quality of justice itself.
By elucidating how laws and rulings can be based on gender stereotypes, or how they might have a different impact on women and men, a gender perspective enhances the fairness of the adjudication.
- eg.: A judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court imposed a condition while granting bail to a man accused of sexual assault — that he should go to the residence of the victim and get a Rakhi tied to his wrist. Such baseless judgements can be prevented.
Women judges bring those lived experiences to their judicial actions, experiences that tend toward a more comprehensive and empathetic perspective.
Improving the representation of women could go a long way towards a more balanced and empathetic approach in cases involving sexual violence.

Conclusion

This initiative must come from the Supreme Court itself, considering that the power of appointment rests almost exclusively with the Supreme Court Collegium.
The goal must be to achieve at least 50% representation of women in all leadership positions. The former Chief Justice of India also mooted that women must have 50% reservation in the judiciary as it is their right.