New Delhi, Mar 24: Women continue to remain underrepresented in top legal roles across courts and law firms globally, with limited data transparency and lack of enforceable rules weakening accountability and slowing progress on gender equality, a recent study has found.
According to the Global Justice 50/50 report, women hold 43 per cent of senior roles and 40 per cent of top positions across 171 justice institutions, including courts, law firms and intergovernmental organisations.
However, the report notes that these figures mask deeper structural imbalances, with men occupying the most influential positions.
Men hold 71 per cent of top roles in global and regional courts and nearly 80 per cent in international law firms, highlighting a persistent concentration of power.
The disparity is further pronounced across regions and income groups. Only 9 per cent of the highest offices are held by women from low- and middle-income countries, while representation from low-income countries remains below 1 per cent.
The study also flags a lack of institutional accountability, noting that only 18 per cent of legal organisations collect or publish gender-disaggregated data, a key requirement for monitoring equality. Many institutions continue to rely on broad commitments rather than enforceable policies, limiting measurable progress.
India’s higher judiciary reflects similar trends. The Supreme Court of India currently has just one woman judge, and no new female appointments have been made in recent years despite stated commitments to improve gender balance.
At the high court level, women account for a small share of judges and face barriers in elevation to senior positions, indicating systemic challenges rather than isolated instances.
The findings also point to a wider global contradiction, where international legal institutions advocating gender reforms often fall short of those standards within their own leadership structures, raising concerns about credibility and consistency.
Experts say meaningful reform will require concrete measures such as transparent appointment processes, public disclosure of leadership composition and pay gaps, and time-bound targets to improve representation.
Without enforceable standards and greater transparency, gender equality in the justice system risks remaining aspirational rather than actionable, the report added.
