Is it not strange that justice is usually portrayed as a woman, but women do not have much role in it? Women have become President, Prime Minister, chief ministers, Governor, and occupied other high positions but not as the chief justice of India. There have been voices calling for better women’s representation. No less than the Supreme Court chief justice S.A Bobde just before his retirement last week lamented this lacune. In the history of the Supreme Court, before reaching that position, the women Judges had crossed the retirement age even if they become Supreme Court judges. Attorney General K. K. Venugopal had also observed that “improving the representation of women in the judiciary could go a long way towards a more balanced and empathetic approach in cases involving sexual violence.”
In India as in other countries, including the United States and Britain, the number of women judges in the judiciary is dismal. It was only in 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor as the first-ever woman supreme court judge to fulfill his campaign promise.
The International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), a non-profit, non-governmental organization with approximately 4,000 members in 100 countries, believes that women judges are unique in advancing women’s rights throughout the world
In its plea to the court recently, Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association had said that the representation of women in the Supreme Court was “abysmally low.” It noted that the Apex court had seen only eight women judges so far and only one out of 25 High Courts in the country has a woman Chief Justice (CJ Hima Kohli at Telangana High Court). Only 73 women out of 661 High Court judges are there. There is no single woman judge in five High Courts, namely, Manipur, Meghalaya, Patna, Tripura, and Uttarakhand. Only 12 women have been designated senior counsels by the Supreme Court so far.
Is there a gender bias in the selection of higher Court judges? The root of the problem is different. Judiciary is a male-dominated field. More importantly, the seniority tradition plays a very significant role in choosing the Chief Justice. Only twice during Indira Gandhi’s time, juniors superseded their seniors.
Naturally, when the number of designated senior women lawyers are disproportionately low, the chances of more women becoming judges also remain minimal. Many women activists and their associations argue that women’s presence in the judiciary catalyzes the development of independent and gender-sensitive judicial decisions.
There are many reasons for women not getting the top slot. Chief Justice of India S.A Bobde observed last week that many women lawyers had declined judgeship citing domestic responsibilities. But the women lawyers counter that many successful men lawyers also decline to become judges. The Delhi High Court Women Lawyers’ Forum also tweeted, “We are ready and more than happy to take this responsibility and serve the institution.”
Secondly, the income as a successful lawyer is much more than the perks and the salary of the judge though there is prestige attached to the position. Thirdly, the problem also trickles down to the lowest courts where there are fewer women judges though there is no shortage of women entering the legal profession. Women comprised 44% of candidates qualified in the 2019 Common Law Admission Test for National Law Universities. Some states have a reservation policy for women lawyers in the lower courts but it is missing in the high courts and Supreme Court.
After Justice Indu Malhotra’s superannuation from the Supreme Court recently, Justice Indira Banerjee is the only woman judge in the apex court, which has the sanctioned strength of 34 judges. Currently, the Supreme Court has five vacancies. Up till now, only eight women judges have graced the Supreme Court of India.
Senior advocate and former Minister Manish Tiwari points out that ‘it is time we moved beyond tokenism. The idea should be to promote substantial representation in the ranks of the judiciary. A woman lawyer should be appreciated because of her merit and not just her gender. The gender bias is deep-rooted and all efforts should be made to give a woman her rightful place.”
There is no shortage of brilliant women High Court judges and lawyers in the country who, if elevated soon to the top court, can become the Chief Justice of India. The timely appointment of more woman judges will be the solution so that they have long tenures. And for this purpose, the Supreme Court collegium should take the initiative. (IPA Service)
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