Reservation for Women in the Judiciary

In News

• Recently, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) backed 50% representation for women in the judiciary.

About

• The CJI called for “urgent correction” of the gender imbalance in the judiciary.
• The CJI further added that it’s not a small issue. It’s an issue of thousands of years of suppression. It’s a matter of right.
• Invoking Karl Marx’s “workers of the world” call, the CJI said: “Women of the world, unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains.”

Women’ Stats in Judiciary

• Low Participation: Women constitute only-
  • about 30 percent of the lower judiciary, 
  • 11.5 percent of the High Courts, 
  • 12 percent of the Supreme Court.
• Right now there are just 4 women Judges in the Supreme Court – Justices Indira Banerjee, Hima Kohli, B V Nagarathna and Bela M Trivedi. 
• Of India’s 1.7 million advocates, only 15 percent are women.
• Only 2 percent of the elected representatives in the State Bar Councils are women. 
• There are no women members in the Bar Council of India.

(Image Courtesy: TOI )

Benefits of Women Reservation

• Broader Perspective: Gender sensitization will provide a diverse perspective to judgments.
• Implementation of Stringent Laws: Laws for heinous crimes are not yet effective, specially for Acid attack and rape. More inclusion of Women in judiciary will impact in proper implementation of such laws.
• More Empathy: Lack of empathy reflected in some of the judgements could significantly reduce.
• Gender of a judge does not matter when a citizen goes to court, but with a female judge hearing the person’s comments always makes the citizen (if female) less uncomfortable.
• It will benefit LGBTQ community as well, as women in general are more accepting towards different orientations of people. 
• The High Courts (HCs) that are headed by women have higher representation of female judges than those headed by men. 

Challenges

• Gender stereotypes that force women to bear the responsibilities of the family.
• The preference of clients for male advocates.
• An uncomfortable environment within courts.
• Vacancy filling takes place at very slow pace and collegium generally don’t prefer women judges
• Biological discrimination takes place when making appointments in private firms as well as Government places.
• Lack of Infrastructure and Washrooms: Out of 6,000 trial courts, nearly 22 per cent have no toilet for women. 
• Recently many cases are rising which lack professionalism on the part of senior advocates towards junior female advocates.

Global Scenario

• India is not an isolated case when it comes to a huge gender imbalance in its top court. 
• Many developed countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland and international bodies are also grappling with the same issue.

(Image Courtesy: IE  )

Suggestions

• Infrastructure: The National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation will ensure inclusive design of Court complexes.
• Gender Diversity in Legal Education: there should be a fixed number of seats, reserved for women candidates, in all colleges and universities providing law courses.
• Legal Vacancies: Increase the number of seats in the judiciary so that participation rate and presence both can increase.
• Atmosphere: Making  work environment safer and proper implementation of Vishakha Guidelines even at lower levels (small firms).

Conclusion 

• Simply inducting a woman CJI would not absolve the judiciary from the responsibility and accountability it holds. 
• Reorientation and ground- level changes are required to convert the rosy picture into reality. 

Source: IE