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Paucity of Women Judges in the Supreme Court of India
Paucity of Women Judges in the Supreme Court of India: A Critical Call for Equality
Context: With the retirement of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia in August 2025, the spotlight is once again on the severe gender imbalance in the Supreme Court, where only one woman judge currently serves. The debate underscores the urgent need for greater gender diversity and inclusion in India’s top judiciary.
Why is there a paucity of women judges in India?
The under-representation of women in India’s higher judiciary is stark. Since 1950, only 11 women (3.8% of 287 judges) have been appointed to the Supreme Court. Several structural barriers explain this paucity:
- Late elevation: Women are usually appointed at a later age, limiting tenure and chances of reaching the Collegium or becoming CJI. Justice B.V. Nagarathna, set to be the first woman CJI in 2027, will hold office for only 36 days.
- Bar to Bench pipeline gap: Despite women constituting a sizable section of senior advocates, only one woman (Justice Indu Malhotra) has been directly elevated from the Bar, compared to nine men.
- Invisible bias in appointments: The Memorandum of Procedure emphasises merit and seniority but ignores gender as a criterion, unlike caste and region. This results in women judges being sidelined despite adequate seniority (22 women judges in High Courts remain overlooked).
- Vacancies and skewed representation: As per the Economic Survey 2022-23, women comprise only 13% of High Court judges (107 out of 788), and several High Courts (e.g., Uttarakhand, Tripura, Manipur) have no women judges.
How can women judges change the justice delivery system?
- Empathy and inclusivity: Women judges bring different life experiences, enhancing sensitivity in family law, gender violence, and workplace harassment cases.
- Judicial legitimacy: A diverse bench reflects society better, boosting public trust. Down To Earth (2024) notes that representation improves perception of fairness in judicial outcomes.
- Influence on legal discourse: Language and framing in judgments become more inclusive when women are part of decision-making.
- Correcting biases: Women judges challenge entrenched stereotypes and help make the judiciary a gender-neutral institution. Rwanda’s judiciary, with nearly 50% women judges, shows how diversity improves institutional credibility.
What steps have been taken to increase the number of women judges?
What is the way forward?
To address systemic imbalance:
- Institutionalise gender as a criterion in the Memorandum of Procedure.
- Develop a transparent pool of women candidates from High Courts and the Bar.
- Consider affirmative measures, similar to Bar Council quotas, ensuring at least 30% representation in appointments.
- Promote women judges at younger ages to give them fair opportunity for senior positions.
- Collegium initiatives: In 2021, then CJI N.V. Ramana’s Collegium recommended three women (Justices Nagarathna, Kohli, Trivedi), a historic step.
- Bar Association push: In 2025, the Supreme Court Bar Association passed a resolution urging urgent elevation of women judges to correct imbalance.
- Policy precedents: In 2016, Bar Councils mandated 30% reservation for women in elected posts, setting an example of institutionalised diversity.
- Judicial acknowledgment: Justice Nagarathna (2024, Justice Sunanda Bhandare lecture) stressed that more women on the bench enhance the quality of justice.
