The Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendation of three women judges — Justice B V Nagarathna of the Karnataka High Court, Justice Hima Kohli, Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court and Justice Bela Trivedi of the Gujarat High Court – for elevation to the apex court holds high symbolic significance for women’s empowerment in India. It is more so because Justice Nagarathna is in line to become the first woman Chief Justice of India in 2027. Having said that, there is need to do more to create an enabling ecosystem to change the dismal status of women at the ground level so that such instances are not exceptions.
A woman judge does not ensure gender justice necessarily. A recent case in point is the order of Bombay High Court additional judge, Justice Pushpa Ganediwala, ruling out sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act of a minor girl for lack of skin to skin contact, which was stayed by the Supreme Court.
Presently, the Supreme Court has one woman judge out of a total of 24 judges. The total sanctioned strength is 34. Only eight women have made it to the Supreme Court till now with Justice Fathima Beevi breaking the glass ceiling in 1989. While women’s representation is less than 1% in the Supreme Court, it stands at 10% in high courts and 27% in lower judiciary, according to a 2018 report by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, a Delhi-based legal think tank.
The underrepresentation of women in judiciary is not an exception and reflects their low presence in other spheres of life, too. The representation of women in parliament is 14% and in legislative assemblies, 9%. The number of women ministers has dropped from 23.1% in 2019 to 9.1% in 2021. At the Panchayat level, the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992, has ensured one-third representation to women. The Global Gender Gap Report 2021 by the World Economic Forum ranks India at 51 on women’s representation in politics.
Women are lagging not only on political empowerment index, but also economic participation. Women earn only one-fifth of men’s estimated earned income. Women’s share in professional and technical roles is down by 29.2%. Women constitute 14.6% in senior and managerial positions, with only 8.9% firms having top female managers. It is hardly surprising that India’s overall rank on gender gap is 140, which is even below neighbouring Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and just above Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The die is cast very early on as per Women and Men in India 2020, a report brought out by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). Females constitute only 48.65% of the population with a sex ratio of 948. The maternal mortality rate is 113. The infant mortality rate for females is 32. The literacy rate for females is 64.63% against 80.9% of men. And so on.
Besides, the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the gender gap further. While the poor and the marginalised are the worst hit, women and girls amongst them are suffering more, according to various surveys.
There is no silver bullet to improve the status of women. The obvious way forward is to improve their socio-economic condition, increase their participation across diverse fields and reduce inequality between men and women. These have to be long-term and continued guiding principles. The fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 5) on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls has already laid down targets with indicators.
A sustained thrust on women’s schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme, One-Stop Centres to help violence affected women, etc, would go a long way in empowering women. With Smriti Zubin Irani heading the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, more such interventions are expected. There is even a case for having separate Ministries for Women and Child Development, even if they are headed by the same minister. The Ministry has already come a long way from being a department of women and child development under the Ministry of Human Resources Development in the early 1980s.
Most importantly, it would help a great deal to enact the Women’s Reservation Bill, which seeks to amend the constitution to provide for one-third reservation of seats for women in parliament and legislative assemblies. It also calls for preparing ground for grooming future women political leaders. Shortcuts don’t lead to sustainable successes. Enabling women to realise their full potential has to go beyond tokenism.
Source: The Times of India
Published on 23 August 2021