Church leaders across India have welcomed a Supreme Court directive reserving 30 percent of seats on state bar councils for women, calling the ruling a major stride toward gender equality in the legal profession.
The order, issued on Dec. 8 by a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, mandates that where elected representatives fail to meet the 30 percent quota, councils must fill at least 20 percent through voting and the remaining 10 percent by co-opting qualified women lawyers. The court said the measure aims to correct the severe underrepresentation of women in bar council bodies.
Petitioners informed the court that only 9 of the 441 elected members across 18 state bar councils — barely 2 percent — were women, and that 11 councils had no women at all. The bench held that such composition violates constitutional guarantees of equality and fails to reflect the steady increase in women entering the legal field.
Father Robinson Rodrigues, spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), called the ruling “a wonderful order” that would help reduce gender discrimination and strengthen women’s participation in shaping legal institutions.
Supreme Court lawyer Sister Mary Scaria of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary said the move would introduce “unique perspectives” to legal governance and improve public trust. She added that women’s representation should eventually rise to 50 percent.
Holy Spirit Sister Julie George, who heads a national forum of Catholic priests and religious lawyers, described the directive as progressive but noted that men would still hold 70 percent of seats. Jesuit lawyer Father A. Santhanam from Tamil Nadu called the ruling “historic” and a vital step toward dismantling patriarchy within the legal system.
