Context: Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde recently, acknowledged that it was high time to have a woman occupy the post of CJI. The SC bench headed by CJI Bobde comprised Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Surya Kant and was hearing a plea filed by Supreme Court Women Lawyers' Association, to consider experienced women SC lawyers for the appointment of judges to the High Court.
Key Points

• These observations came during the hearing of the appointment of ad hoc judges to High Courts.
• Representing the Women Lawyers' Association, lawyers Sneha Khalita and Shoba Gupta argued that only 11 per cent of women are in judiciary, and sought that more women be appointed as judges.
• Heading a three-judge bench, Chief Justice Bobde said: "The Chief Justices of High courts stated that many women are invited to come as judges. But they have declined, citing domestic responsibilities about children studying in Class 12 etc and Chief Justices of High Courts reported to me. These are things we can't discuss."
• Every Collegium, the Chief Justice said, pays attention to appoint women judges.
• The court did not issue notice on the plea of the Women Lawyer's Association.

The women lawyers said out of 25 High Courts in the country, only one has a woman Chief Justice -- Chief Justice  Hima Kohli at Telangana High Court. 

• Only 73 out of 661 High Court judges -- roughly 11.04 per cent  are women.
• In five High Courts -- Manipur, Meghalaya, Patna, Tripura and Uttarakhand there is not even a single woman judge.
• The plea noted that there is no woman judge in the five high courts of Patna, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Uttarakhand. 
• There is only one woman chief justice in the high court, Hima Kohli, the chief justice of Telangana High Court.

Data on Gender Gap in Judiciary

• The SC only has 2 women judges, as against the 34 seats reserved for women judges and there has never been a female Chief Justice of India (CJI).
• There are only 80 women judges out of the total sanctioned strength of 1,113 judges in the SC and the HCs.
• Out of these 80 women judges, there are only two in the SC, and the other 78 are in various HCs, comprising only 7.2% of the total number of judges.
• Of the 26 courts whose data was accessed, including the SC, the Punjab and Haryana HCs has the maximum strength of women judges (11 out of 85 judges) in the country, followed by the Madras HC (9 out of 75 judges). Both Delhi and Bombay HCs have 8 women judges.
• The HCs of Manipur, Meghalaya, Patna, Tripura, Telangana, and Uttarakhand, do not have any women in the sitting judges.
• Currently, no data is centrally maintained on the number of women in tribunals or lower courts.
• In the senior designation of lawyers, there are only 17 women senior counsel designates in the SC as opposed to 403 men.
• The Delhi HC has 8 women and 229 men designates. Similarly, in the Bombay HC, there are 6 women and 157 men designates.

Importance of Women in Judiciary

• The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 5 and SDG 16 in particular), address the global responsibility of having gender equality and women’s representation in public institutions such as the judiciary.
• Achieving equality for women judges is important not only because it is a right for women, but also because it is right for the achievement of a more just rule of law. Women judges strengthen the judiciary and help to gain the public's trust.
• The entry of women judges is a positive step in the direction of judiciaries being perceived as being more transparent, inclusive, and representative of the people whose lives they affect.
• Women judges enhance the legitimacy of courts, sending a powerful signal that they are open and accessible to those who seek recourse to justice.
• Women judges bring those lived experiences to their judicial actions, experiences that tend toward a more comprehensive and empathetic perspective.
• Adjudication is enhanced by the presence of women who bring to the fore considerations that would not have been taken into account in their absence and the scope of the discussion is hence enlarged, possibly preventing ill-considered or improper decisions.
• By elucidating how laws and rulings can be based on gender stereotypes, or how they might have a different impact on women and men, a gender perspective enhances the fairness of adjudication, which ultimately benefits both men and women.

Road Ahead

• There is no doubt that there is massive under representation of Women in judiciary but it is not just limited to the judiciary its the case with society at large. However things are changing for the better and we are seeing more women representation in the judiciary and in other fields as well. That's it there shouldn,t be any ease criteria for women to get in the judiciary but it has to be done on merit .
• Changing the long-established demographics of a court can make the institution more amenable to consider itself in a new light, and potentially lead to further modernisation and reform. As a court's composition becomes more diverse, its customary practices become less entrenched; consequently, the old methods, often based on unstated codes of behavior, or simply inertia, are no longer adequate.