UPSC Editorial Analysis: Towards Gender-Responsive Justice: Addressing Women’s Under-Representation in the Indian Judiciary
Kartavya Desk Staff
*General Studies-1; Topic: Role of women and **women’s organization*
Introduction
• India’s judicial system has witnessed improved participation of women at the lower levels, especially in district courts. However, this progress sharply declines in the higher judiciary.
• As highlighted in the Supreme Court’s State of the Judiciary Report (2023), women constitute merely 4% of judges in High Courts and only 9.3% in the Supreme Court. In several High Courts, representation is either negligible or entirely absent, underscoring a deep structural imbalance.
• This contrast between entry-level gains and higher-level stagnation reveals systemic barriers that restrict women’s advancement within the judicial hierarchy.
Structural Barriers within the Legal Profession
• Although more women are enrolling in law schools, their participation in active legal practice remains limited, forming only about 3% of advocates nationwide.
• Representation diminishes further in senior positions—very few women serve as senior advocates or hold positions in Bar Councils. Since elevations to High Courts and the Supreme Court largely draw from senior advocates, this creates a restricted talent pool.
• This shrinking progression is often described as the “funnel effect”—while many women enter legal education, very few reach positions of judicial authority.
Institutional and Policy Constraints
• Entry-Level Restrictions Many states mandate continuous legal practice as a qualification for judicial services. Women who take career breaks due to caregiving responsibilities are disadvantaged under such rigid criteria.
• Many states mandate continuous legal practice as a qualification for judicial services.
• Women who take career breaks due to caregiving responsibilities are disadvantaged under such rigid criteria.
• Retention Barriers Policies such as mandatory inter-state or intra-state transfers disrupt family stability. The absence of flexible arrangements and institutional backing compels many women to discontinue their judicial careers prematurely.
• Policies such as mandatory inter-state or intra-state transfers disrupt family stability.
• The absence of flexible arrangements and institutional backing compels many women to discontinue their judicial careers prematurely.
• Infrastructure Gaps Several district courts lack basic amenities such as separate washrooms for women. Facilities like crèches, lactation rooms, and secure resting areas are insufficient, discouraging sustained participation.
• Several district courts lack basic amenities such as separate washrooms for women.
• Facilities like crèches, lactation rooms, and secure resting areas are insufficient, discouraging sustained participation.
• Socio-Cultural Expectations Women continue to bear the primary burden of caregiving and domestic responsibilities. The judiciary’s demanding and inflexible work culture fails to accommodate these realities, perpetuating exclusion.
• Women continue to bear the primary burden of caregiving and domestic responsibilities.
• The judiciary’s demanding and inflexible work culture fails to accommodate these realities, perpetuating exclusion.
• Financial Challenges Women lawyers often begin their careers with lower remuneration compared to male peers. The absence of maternity benefits, structured stipends, or financial safeguards makes long-term career establishment difficult.
• Women lawyers often begin their careers with lower remuneration compared to male peers.
• The absence of maternity benefits, structured stipends, or financial safeguards makes long-term career establishment difficult.
Understanding the Public–Private Divide
• Political theorist Carole Pateman conceptualizes the public-private divide, explaining how caregiving work in the private sphere is undervalued when women enter public institutions.
• In the judicial context, institutional frameworks are largely shaped around uninterrupted, male-oriented career trajectories. Without gender-sensitive adjustments, women are compelled to conform to systems that do not reflect their lived experiences.
Why Greater Representation is Crucial
• Judicial Sensitivity: A bench lacking gender diversity may miss nuanced understanding in cases involving domestic violence, sexual offences, reproductive autonomy, and family disputes.
• Democratic Legitimacy: Courts that do not mirror societal diversity risk appearing detached and elitist. Inclusive representation strengthens public confidence.
• Inspirational Impact: Visible female leadership in the judiciary encourages younger generations of women to aspire toward legal and judicial careers, gradually dismantling entrenched stereotypes.
Reimagining Judicial Design through a “Female Gaze”
• A gender-responsive framework recognizes that policies deemed neutral may unintentionally reinforce bias.
• A “female gaze” in judicial policy-making seeks to correct structural inequalities in recruitment, evaluation, and promotion.
• It advocates reshaping institutions to accommodate women’s realities instead of forcing adaptation to male-centric norms.
International Experiences and Lessons
• United Kingdom and Canada Adoption of gender quotas in appointments. Flexible working arrangements and structured sensitization training. Balanced representation in judicial selection bodies.
• Adoption of gender quotas in appointments.
• Flexible working arrangements and structured sensitization training.
• Balanced representation in judicial selection bodies.
• Potential Measures for India Mentorship networks for emerging women lawyers. Gender-balanced selection committees. Strengthening women’s legal associations to articulate profession-specific concerns.
• Mentorship networks for emerging women lawyers.
• Gender-balanced selection committees.
• Strengthening women’s legal associations to articulate profession-specific concerns.
Way Forward
• Infrastructure Reforms Include women in court planning bodies. Mandate crèches, nursing facilities, and secure sanitation infrastructure in all judicial complexes.
• Include women in court planning bodies.
• Mandate crèches, nursing facilities, and secure sanitation infrastructure in all judicial complexes.
• Policy Revisions Recognize career breaks without penal consequences in promotions. Reform transfer policies to incorporate gender sensitivity.
• Recognize career breaks without penal consequences in promotions.
• Reform transfer policies to incorporate gender sensitivity.
• Supportive Ecosystem Institutionalize gender sensitization training. Offer scholarships or financial assistance to women from marginalized backgrounds pursuing law.
• Institutionalize gender sensitization training.
• Offer scholarships or financial assistance to women from marginalized backgrounds pursuing law.
• Institutional Reorientation Develop evaluation frameworks acknowledging non-linear career paths. Create family-friendly workplaces ensuring continuity and professional growth.
• Develop evaluation frameworks acknowledging non-linear career paths.
• Create family-friendly workplaces ensuring continuity and professional growth.
Conclusion
• For India’s judiciary to embody the constitutional ideals of justice and equality, it must become structurally inclusive. Gender parity is not symbolic tokenism—it is foundational to building a judicial system that is empathetic, representative, and responsive to diverse societal realities.
• A truly equitable legal order demands not only access for women at entry levels but sustained and meaningful presence in the highest echelons of judicial authority.
Critically examine the reasons for the under-representation of women in India’s higher judiciary. Discuss the socio-cultural norms and institutional frameworks that reinforce this imbalance. (250 words)