Revision summary
Women remain under-represented on Supreme Court and High Court benches despite a large pool at the Bar. Diversity improves judging in gender, family and workplace cases; equity and inclusiveness are Articles 14–16 values the Court itself enforces. The filter is informal networks and seniority practice, not a constitutional ban. Publish data, widen the district-judge and senior-advocate pool, and name gender diversity as a collegium criterion. Inclusion is about legitimacy of the Bench, not about a single judicial ideology.
Model answer
Introduction
The higher judiciary speaks the Constitution for the whole Republic, yet women remain a thin minority on the Supreme Court and High Court benches. Greater representation is desirable because diversity, equity and inclusiveness are conditions of legitimacy, not ornaments on an otherwise male collegium.
Body
Why representation is desirable
- Diversity of life experience on the Bench improves the quality of judging in cases on workplace harassment, family property, reproductive autonomy, and the POSH framework; a homogenous court systematically under-sees those facts.
- Equity demands that women, who are half the citizenry and a rising share of law graduates and advocates, are not filtered out at the point of elevation to the High Court and the Supreme Court.
- Inclusiveness is a constitutional value read with Articles 14, 15 and 16; a court that enforces those Articles while remaining almost all-male weakens its own moral authority.
- Visible women judges also change the pipeline: juniors, litigants, and court staff treat the courtroom as a shared public space rather than a male guild.
The present gap
- India has had distinguished women judges from Justice Fathima Beevi onward, yet the Supreme Court has never approached gender parity, and several High Courts have gone years with few or no women judges.
- Collegium elevation still leans on seniority at the Bar and on informal networks that historically favoured men; there is no constitutional bar on women, but there is a structural filter.
- Justice Indu Malhotra’s Sabarimala dissent and later benches on Article 15 show that women judges do not vote as a bloc; the case for inclusion is about perspective and fairness, not about a guaranteed outcome.
How to get there without lowering the office
- Publish gender-disaggregated data on recommendations, elevations, and residual vacancies, so the Memorandum of Procedure is not a closed male conversation.
- Widen the pool from district judges and from women senior advocates, and make transfer, housing, and parental-leave practice compatible with a judicial career.
- Recommendation: treat gender diversity as an express collegium criterion alongside seniority and merit, as several Law Commission and parliamentary committee notes have already urged.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD P[Pool of women lawyers and DJs] --> C[Collegium elevation] C --> B[Diverse High Court and SC benches] B --> D[Diversity equity inclusiveness] B --> L[Legitimacy of constitutional judging]
Conclusion
Greater representation of women in the higher judiciary is desirable because a constitutional court that is diverse, equitable and inclusive judges better and is believed more. The gap is structural, not a shortage of women lawyers; the collegium and the Memorandum of Procedure must treat gender as a criterion of a complete Bench.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Whether the Supreme Court Judgement (July 2018) can settle the political tussle between the Lt. Governor and elected government of Delhi? Examine. (15).
Next question on this syllabus topic (2018 · Q11). View answer →
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Does the Constitution reserve High Court seats for women?
No. Articles 124 and 217 are gender-neutral. Desirability of representation is a matter of appointment practice and equity, not of a present quota clause.
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Will more women judges mean identical judgments?
No. The argument is diversity of perspective and public confidence, not a feminist whip on every bench.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
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2025 · Q11 · GS II · 15 marks
"Constitutional morality is the fulcrum which acts as an essential check upon the high functionaries and citizens alike…"In view of the above observation of the Supreme Court, explain the concept of constitutional morality and its application to ensure balance between judicial independence and judicial accountability in India. -
2025 · Q13 · GS II · 15 marks
Discuss the evolution of collegium system in India. Critically examine the advantages and disadvantages of the system of appointment of the Judges of the Supreme Court of India and that of the USA. -
2024 · Q14 · GS II · 15 marks
Explain the reasons for the growth of public interest litigation in India. As a result of it, has the Indian Supreme Court emerged as the world's most powerful judiciary ? -
2022 · Q1 · GS II · 10 marks
"The most significant achievement of modern law in India is the constitutionalization of environmental problems by the Supreme Court." Discuss this statement with the help of relevant case laws. -
2018 · Q11 · GS II · 15 marks
Whether the Supreme Court Judgement (July 2018) can settle the political tussle between the Lt. Governor and elected government of Delhi? Examine. (15). -
2017 · Q2 · GS II · 10 marks
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More from this topic
Q13 · UPSC Mains 2025 · GS II · 15 marks
Discuss the evolution of collegium system in India. Critically examine the advantages and disadvantages of the system of appointment of the Judges of the Supreme Court of India and that of the USA.
Executive and Judiciary
First Judges Case gave the executive primacy; Second and Third Judges Cases created the collegium of the CJI and senior colleagues. NJAC (99th Amendment) was struck down in 2015; the collegium returned, still criticised for opacity and delay. The US President nominates Supreme Court Justices; the Senate confirms; tenure is effectively for life. India’s gain is insulation from a sudden majority; its cost is unexplained selection. America’s gain is public democratic input; its cost is partisan life tenure.
Q11 · UPSC Mains 2025 · GS II · 15 marks
"Constitutional morality is the fulcrum which acts as an essential check upon the high functionaries and citizens alike…"In view of the above observation of the Supreme Court, explain the concept of constitutional morality and its application to ensure balance between judicial independence and judicial accountability in India.
Executive and Judiciary
Ambedkar treated constitutional morality as cultivated respect for constitutional forms in an unequal society. The Court has used it in Manoj Narula, NCT of Delhi, Navtej Johar and Sabarimala as process plus dignity against convenience. It checks both high office and majoritarian citizens. Judicial independence (tenure, collegium, basic structure) is one application; accountability (impeachment, in-house, Veeraswami, open reasons) is the other. NJAC 2015 protected independence; unexplained collegium power still fails the same morality if it will not give reasons.
Q14 · UPSC Mains 2024 · GS II · 15 marks
Explain the reasons for the growth of public interest litigation in India. As a result of it, has the Indian Supreme Court emerged as the world's most powerful judiciary ?
Executive and Judiciary
Public interest litigation grew because the Court stopped insisting that only a personally injured plaintiff could knock. Hussainara Khatoon read speedy trial into Article 21 for Bihar undertrials. S.P. Gupta opened standing; Bandhua Mukti Morcha let a voluntary body sue for bonded labourers. A letter could be treated as a writ; continuing mandamus kept administrations under watch. The Court is unusually interventionist on appointments and social rights. It is not the world’s most powerful if power means being always obeyed. Frivolous PIL should shrink; voiceless litigants have not vanished because GDP rose.
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