Ladies, The Court's Waiting For You!

Anju Singh addresses gender disparity in the Indian judiciary.

The task of upholding the Constitution of India both in times of calm as well as peril is assigned to the Indian judiciary. Values such as justice, liberty and equality enshrined in the Constitution have to be adhered to by all instrumentalities of the state including the judiciary. But the gender disparity reflected in the Indian judiciary is a challenge to these tenets. The current gender disparity reflected in the low number of women judges in the lower and higher judiciary (28%) vis-à-vis the number of male judges, raises disconcerting questions. Does the judiciary only preach? Does gender disparity in its composition violate the values that it is duty bound to uphold?