It’s time to address gender imbalance in the lower judiciary

Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy (VCLP), in a recent study called ‘Tilting the Scale: Gender imbalance in the lower judiciary’, has highlighted the lack of gender perspective in discourses surrounding judicial reforms. The study did so by showing a lack of gender diversity within the lower judiciary.

In a statement, VCLP stated that the issue of gender diversity in courts came up when the Supreme Court recommended Senior Advocate Indu Malhotra for a judgeship. However, the issue is barely discussed in the context of the lower judiciary, which is the first and only point of contact for most litigants, Sumathi Chandrashekaran, a Senior Resident Fellow, points out.

The study presents state and district-wise data on the gender composition, including the number of women judges, in the lower judiciary. The findings reveal that women comprise less than 28 per cent of lower court judges nationwide. Only in three of the smallest states — Goa, Meghalaya, and Sikkim, with a collective total of a mere 103 judges — does the percentage of women judges rise above the halfway mark. In the worst-performing states of Bihar and Jharkhand, the number drops under 14 per cent. 

States such as Bihar (11.52%), Jharkhand (13.98%), Gujarat (15.11%), Jammu and Kashmir (18.62%), and Uttar Pradesh (21.4%) have the lowest representation, the study shows. On the other hand, Meghalaya (73.8%), Goa (65.9%) and Sikkim (64.7%) fall on the other end of the spectrum.

The government’s Economic Survey 2018 also acknowledges this. In its chapter, titled ‘Gender and Son Meta-Preference: Is Development Itself an Antidote?’, the Survey stated that the “intrinsic values of gender equality are uncontestable”. It also quoted IMF chief Christian Lagarde as saying, “Women’s participation in the workforce to the level of men can boost the Indian economy by 27 per cent.”

Arijeet Ghosh, a VCLP research fellow, wrote in an article that “several senior and respected women in the legal profession have stated that the profession still remains ‘an old boys’ club’ and it has been harder for women to break the ‘glass-ceiling’. Our research intends to provide the much-required impetus to start a conversation in this area.”

Illustration credits: Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy