Highlighting the need for more women in the judiciary, including law colleges in India, Chief Justice NV Ramana said on Sunday that there is a need for 50 per cent representation for women.
He said there aren’t many women in the judicial department with men taking up most of the posts. The call was made after the felicitation ceremony organized for him by the women advocates and 9 nine appointed judges in the Supreme Court.
Addressing the women currently in the system and law students across the country, the CJI said, “It is your right.”
Stressing on the wrongful culture being followed since times unknown, he said, “We need 50 per cent representation for women in the judiciary… It is an issue of thousands of years of oppression. In lower levels of the judiciary, less than 30 per cent of judges are women… in High Courts it is 11.5 per cent… in Supreme Court only 11-12 per cent are women.”
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Only 15 per cent of the 1.7 million lawyers in India are women and a mere 2 per cent of these are elected representatives in the state bar councils, CJI Ramana said. He expressed his disappointment on the Bar Council of India National Committee which “does not have a single woman representative”.
Calling for these matters to be urgently corrected, the Chief Justice presented a refreshed take on the Karl Marx quote of “Workers of the World unite, you have nothing to lose, but your chains”. “I will modify this- ‘women of the World unite. You have nothing to lose, but your chains’,” he said.
There are also several “challenges unfriendly to women lawyers” in the judicial premises, he noted, like lack of infrastructure including female washrooms, creches for working mothers and uncomfortable working environments.
Justice BV Nagarathna, who is going to be the first female Chief Justice of India in 2027 for a month, seconded the Chief Justice’s opinion. She was one of the 3 women who were sworn in as SC judges on September 1st this year. She added that women’s advancement in judicial roles also encourages gender equality elsewhere females aren’t given the same positions as men.
Speaking about the importance of women’s inclusion in the judiciary, she said, “Female judicial appointments, particularly at senior levels, can shift gender stereotypes, thereby changing attitudes and perceptions as to appropriate roles of men and women. Women’s visibility as judicial officers can also pave the way for greater representation in other decision-making positions…. such as legislative and executive branches of the government,” adding, “To women advocates I say… continuously strive to do better. I think the time has come to break the glass ceiling and for women to strive ahead.”
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This makes it the second time in September when the Chief Justice spoke about the need for women representatives in India’s judiciary. “After 75 years of Independence… expect at least 50 per cent representation for women at all levels… with great difficulty we have now achieved 11 per cent in the Supreme Court,” he said earlier this month at an event held by the Bar Council of India.
Since M Fathima Beevi in 1989, there have been only 8 women in the Supreme Court judges panel in the last 73 years. September 1st was called as a “historic” moment in the judicial system as 3 women were sworn in the top court as judges. However, this still amounts to a small number only, given the rest 33 positions are occupied by men.
