SC Launches Handbook on Combatting Gender Stereotypes

With the objective to help judges avoid using inappropriate gender terms, the Supreme Court launched a handbook on Wednesday to highlight stereotypes and incorrect terms often used in courts unintentionally.

Terms like ‘chaste women’, ‘Indian wife’, and ‘seductress’ have often been used by judges while giving judgments. These terms have been flagged as gender unjust and alternative words and phrases have been suggested in the handbook.

Per the handbook, judges will now use the term ‘unmarried woman’ instead of ‘spinster’. The term ‘mistress’ will be replaced by  the phrase ‘woman with whom a man has has romantic or sexual relations outside marriage’ and the term ‘prostitute’ is to be replaced with the word ‘sex worker’.

The handbook is inclusive of the terms championed by LGBTQIA+ community and acknowledges that gender identity is not restricted to binary but is spread over a spectrum and can evolve with time.

Releasing the handbook, the Chief Justice of India, CJI Chandrachud spoke about the importance of combatting gender stereotypes in judgements while at the same time clarifying that this was not an attempt to criticize previous judgements but an attempt to neutralize the unintentional use of gender stereotypes in our judgements and legal documents.

Justices Moushumi Bhattacharya of the Calcutta HC and Pratibha Singh of the Delhi HC and Professor Jhuma Sen worked on the draft of the handbook which was both guided and edited by CJI Chandrachud.

CJI Chandrachud also ensured that there were detailed consultations with various domain experts and stakeholders over a period of 2 years. He said that, “It is vital that judges not only avoid relying on stereotypes in their decision making and writing but also they actively challenge as well as dispel harmful stereotypes”.