THE upcoming International Women’s Day seeks to ‘Accelerate Action’, to amplify and expedite the sedated movement towards gender equality across the globe. While the global movement for gender parity continues to claim and reclaim spaces, the Indian judiciary struggles to move beyond its predominantly ‘Male, Stale and Pale’ disposition. The higher judiciary operates under a collegium system, which has become more opaque, prone to effectively brandishing more bias in the name of ‘representation’.
Traditionally, law as a profession was deemed inappropriate for women. As time has progressed, so have women, and today women pursue this career of their preference. Nevertheless, we do not have enough women in our judiciary, and certainly not enough in the higher judiciary. Judges play a crucial role in the administration and delivery of justice as their judicial decisions significantly influence social structures, public order, and the systemic inequalities that exist within the system. At the entry level, women law practitioners are not only confronted with the daunting challenge of outperforming their men counterparts, tackle instances of sexual harassment, and manage social responsibilities, but, peculiarly, when women lawyers or judges advocate for their equal rights, convenience of archaic practice dictates them to be labelled as aggressive, difficult and sensitive.
