As a nation, we recently commemorated 75 years since the Indian Constitution was established and the Supreme Court and High Courts started functioning under the constitution. These institutions have been steadfast protectors of fundamental rights, including the right to equality for all citizens. While women lawyers, alongside their male colleagues, champion these rights in courtrooms nationwide, their own struggle for equal representation in the higher judiciary remains unfulfilled. The wait for justice for them continues even after 75 years, prompting the question of how much longer it will take to achieve the benchmark of equal representation on the bench.
What are the obstacles? It seems to be a clear lack of will and a deliberate disregard for this constitutional mandate by successive Collegiums. The only possible excuse is that there are not enough qualified women lawyers to be elevated to High Courts, or not enough women judges in High Courts to be elevated to the Supreme Court. However, data from the Department of Justice, the Supreme Court, and High Courts presents a grim picture of the higher judiciary's approach so far.
Supreme Court Representation
The statistics on women's representation on the bench are striking. Over the past 75 years, a mere 11 out of 287 judges elevated to the Supreme Court have been women, accounting for only 3.8% of the total. The Supreme Court's first woman judge, Justice Fatima Beevi, was appointed in 1989, nearly four decades after its inception. It took another five years for the second, Justice Sujata V. Manohar, to be elevated in 1994. This was followed by Justice Ruma Pal in 2000 after six more years, and Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra a decade later in 2010. For many years, the pattern appeared to be one woman judge at a time.
A slow and uneven progression followed. For the first time in its 61-year history, the Supreme Court had two women judges simultaneously with the elevation of Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai in 2011, joining Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra. However, it took another four years for the court to get its sixth woman judge, Justice R. Banumati, in 2014. Another four years passed before Justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee were elevated in 2018, bringing the total to eight. An unprecedented and historic moment occurred on August 31, 2021, under the leadership of then Chief Justice N. V. Ramana, when three women—Justices Hima Kohli, Bela M. Trivedi, and B. V. Nagarathna—were elevated together. This brought the total number of women judges in the Supreme Court's 71-year history to 11.
Since August 31, 2021, no woman judge has been elevated to the Supreme Court. In the same period, four women judges have retired, leaving the court with only one woman judge, Justice B. V. Nagarathna. Meanwhile, 28 male judges were elevated to the Supreme Court during this time.
Overlooked and Superseded
The issue of underrepresentation is not due to a shortage of qualified women. The author notes that male high court judges have been elevated by superseding many of their senior colleagues. Of the 18 women who have served as Chief Justices of High Courts, only five have been elevated to the Supreme Court. Among those not elevated are Justice Leila Seth, the first woman Chief Justice of a High Court in India, and 12 other women who held this position. Most of these women were exceptionally outstanding in their performance as High Court Judges and Chief Justices.
Even more concerning is the trend of senior women judges being overlooked. In the recent August 2025 elevations to the Supreme Court, several senior women high court judges were bypassed.
The Path Forward
In 75 years, all 52 Chief Justices of the Supreme Court have been men. The country's first woman Chief Justice, Justice B. V. Nagarathna, is set to take office on September 24, 2027, more than 77 years after the Supreme Court was established. This reality underscores the urgent need for change.
Why are the statistics so poor for women on the bench? We need to appoint a greater number of women judges in High Courts to create a larger pool for consideration for elevation to the Supreme Court. In appointment procedures to High Courts, the ratio of women lawyers remains consistently below 20%. We have yet to see a list with an equal 50% ratio of men and women recommended for elevation. The recent September 2025 recommendation by the Supreme Court Collegium for the Allahabad High Court, for example, included only two women out of 12 candidates from the lawyers' quota and two women out of 14 candidates from the judicial officers' quota. This approach is a routine practice, not an exception.
This systemic issue requires a conscious and determined effort to ensure adequate representation. It is no longer the case that qualified women are unavailable or unwilling to become judges. The Collegium should adopt a more inclusive approach, considering all available women lawyers for elevation alongside an equal number of male lawyers, instead of the current practice of including only a small percentage of women.
Another significant concern is that women lawyers are often appointed at a later age than their male counterparts, affecting their seniority. This systemic gender discrimination continues with the appointment of women judges to the Supreme Court at an older age, resulting in shorter tenures. Consequently, they rarely reach senior positions to become part of the Collegium themselves.
Women in law are making every effort to assert their presence, but without an equally concerted effort from the Collegium, this gender injustice and discrimination will persist. It is high time that justice is served for women in law.
Beyond Gender
The under-representation is not limited to women alone; it extends to other communities, with the Supreme Court having only one Muslim judge and no judges from Scheduled Tribes or other minorities when compared to their share of population in the country. Achieving a more diverse judiciary is not just about equality but about justice itself. Hope that things will change for the better, ensuring more inclusive representation for all segments of the population.
Author is Senior Advocate at Supreme Court of India. Views Are Personal.