50% Representation for Women in the Judiciary

The Chief Justice of India, N. V. Ramana advocated for 50% representation for women in the judiciary. He said that it is an issue of thousands of years of suppression and women are entitled to the reservation as a matter of right.

Data pertaining to Women in Judiciary

SC : There are only 4 women justices

High Courts: Women judges constitute only 11.5%

Lower Courts: Women constitute only about 30% of the lower judiciary

State of Judicial Infrastructure in India

Physical Infrastructure

  • As per the information available in the public domain, the sanctioned strength of judicial officers is 24,280 whereas there are only 20,143 court halls.
  • There are only 17,800 residential units including 3,988 rented units available for the judicial officers.
  • Almost 26 percent of the district courts have no running water in the ladies toilets,
  • Only 11 percent of the washrooms are accessible to disabled citizens, 2 percent of the courts provide tactile pathways for the visually challenged, and only 20 percent have guide maps and 45 percent courts have helpdesks.
  • 68 percent lower courts do not have separate record rooms and nearly half of them do not have a library.
  • During the Pandemic, only 27% of the courtrooms had a computer for the judges for videoconferencing.

Human Resource Infrastructure

  • According to a written reply in the Parliament by the Union Law Minister, the judge-population ratio in India stood at 21.03 judges per million people in 2020 as compared to 50-100 per million in developed countries.
  • As of July 20, 2021, more than 450 judges' positions are vacant in 25 high courts across India.

As of 2021-

  • Out of 677 sitting judges in the Supreme Court and the high courts, only 81 are women, which translate into only 12 percent representation.
  • At least five high courts, Manipur, Meghalaya, Bihar, Tripura and Uttarakhand do not have a single woman judge, while seven other high courts have just one woman judge each.
  • Of the 1.7 million advocates, only 15% are women. Only 2% of the elected representatives in the state bar councils are women. There is no woman member in the Bar Council of India

Issues related to Women in Judiciary

  • Clients’ preference for male advocates,
  • Uncomfortable environment within courtrooms
  • Lack of gender sensitive infrastructure e.g., lack of washrooms for women,
  • Crowded courtrooms,
  • No reservation of seats in law schools and universities for women.

Advantages of increasing Women Representation in Judiciary

  • It will improve gender inclusion, diversity and equality for women judges, in terms of representation.
  • It could go a long way towards a more balanced and empathetic approach in cases involving women, children, LGBTQ, etc.
  • Women judges enhance the legitimacy of courts as they represent an alternative opinion as compared to judiciary which has more of male representation.

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