THE UNBALANCED BENCH: GENDER INEQUALITY IN INDIAN HIGHER JUDICIARY

Due to the advancement of women in society, the Indian Constitution and other laws grant a
number of benefits. The fundamental question, however, is whether gender neutrality is truly
occurring in society. When it comes to gender neutrality, the judiciary, which is supposed to
be the guardian of the people, is falling behind. A clear indication of the Indian judiciary’s
gender neutrality is the fact that there are currently no female Chief Justices in the country.
Despite having its first female judge in 1989, the top court has only had five female judges
(3.07%) out of 163 past judges. Regarding the current judges, only three of the thirty-one judges
are female. In reality, this means that only once in 10 years women are represented in the
Supreme Court of India. The first two female judges to be appointed in the same year were
Justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee. This research article seeks to highlight the position
of women in India’s higher judiciary, as well as the associated disadvantages and
recommendations. This research paper focuses on the appointment of Supreme Court Judges
and comparison between the representation of women judges in India and USA women judges
in higher Judiciary and the drawbacks of not providing equal opportunities to women Judges
in the Judiciary.
KEY WORDS: Women Judges, Higher-Judiciary, Chief Justice, Appointment, GenderNeutrality, Drawbacks.