ISLAMABAD: Only 5.5 per cent of judges in superior courts are female, according to a new re­­port compiled by the Law and Ju­­stice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP), which highlighted the inadequate representation of wo­­men in all tiers of the judiciary.

This report, which included statistics about women currently working as judges, lawyers, prosecution officers, and human resource personnel, claimed that female representation in courts was disproportionate to their share in the overall population.

The report said that currently 126 judges are working in the upper tier of the judiciary — Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court, and the five high courts.

Of them, 119 are male judges, while only seven, or 5.5pc, are female judges. It added that of the 3,142 jud­ges or judicial officers, only 572, or 18pc, are women.

LJCP calls for steps to encourage women’s inclusion in judicial sector

The LJCP report recommen­ded the government and other relevant stakeholders to take steps to encourage the inclusion of more women in the judiciary.

LJCP is a federal institution headed by the chief justice, with the top judges of the Federal Shariat Court, high courts, and attorney general as its members.

The body suggests reforms and amendments in laws and the legal sector.

Paltry representation

The report stated that currently, there are 12 male judges and only two women — Justices Ayesha A. Malik and Musarrat Hilali — in the Supreme Court.

The female representation in the country’s highest court was only 14pc, according to the report.

Until 2022, no woman judge was ever appointed to the Supreme Court. It changed when Justice Malik was appointed to the top court in 2022. In 2023, Justice Hilali be­­came the second woman to take the oath as SC judge.

The LJCP report stated one woman judge was working in La­­hore High Court against 39 male peers.

Similarly, there are three female judges in Sindh High Court against 30 male judges.

Of the eight Islamabad High Court judges, only one was a woman. Of the 15 and 13 judges in the Peshawar and Balochistan high courts, none are women.

The report said there were 3,016 judicial officers working at the district judiciary level. Of them, 2,451 are male and 565, or 19pc, are female.

As per the area-wise breakdown, the presence of women in the district judiciary is the highest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with 28pc — of the 521 total judges — being women.

The distribution is 20pc in Islamabad, 19pc in Punjab, 14pc in Sindh, and 12pc in Balochistan.

The report also provided district-wise details of positions held by female judicial officers.

Additionally, the report included a province-wise list of ex-cadre positions held by female judicial officers.

Furthermore, it revealed that there are 230,879 lawyers enrolled in different provincial bar associations. Out of these, 198,100 lawyers are male, while around 40,000 lawyers are female. This means that women make up about 17pc of the total number of enrolled lawyers.

According to the report, the data collected from the provincial prosecution departments showed there are 2,210 prosecution officers in the country. Of these, 1,869 officers are male, and 341 officers female, indicating that women make up only 15pc of their total strength.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2024