The Nidahase Kanthavo (Free Women) organisation has condemned the persistent lack of female representation in Sri Lanka’s higher Judiciary, accusing successive Governments and appointing authorities of failing to address the severe gender imbalance in the country’s top courts.
Speaking at a recent public forum in Kurunegala, organisation Convenor Suwanthi Weerasekara said the Supreme Court (SC) and Court of Appeal (CA) remained overwhelmingly male-dominated despite the availability of distinguished female legal professionals in the country.
According to data presented by the organisation, only one woman currently serves among the 29 judges holding positions in the two Apex Courts, giving women a combined representation of just 3.4%.
The organisation said the SC has 17 sanctioned positions, of which 13 are currently filled, with only one female judge, representing 7.6% of serving judges.
The situation is even more stark at the CA, where 16 of the 20 sanctioned positions are currently filled, with no female judges, resulting in zero female representation.
Weerasekara alleged that the failure to appoint qualified women to existing judicial positions raised concerns over the Constitutional guarantee of equality under Article 12.
She also pointed to the limited representation of women in the lower Judiciary. According to the figures presented, women accounted for 21.2% of judges in the High Courts and 34.8% of judges in the District and Magistrate’s Courts as of 2021.
The organisation further highlighted that a woman has never been elected President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka throughout its history.
“While the Government moves swiftly to introduce constitutional amendments to grant service extensions to senior officials, it refuses to carry out the simplest, zero-cost task: filling existing judicial vacancies in accordance with non-discriminatory standards,” Weerasekara said.
She argued that leaving judicial positions vacant while overlooking qualified female candidates directly undermined the principle of equal opportunity guaranteed under Article 12.
The organisation called for greater attention to gender equality in judicial appointments and urged authorities to address the disparity in representation at the highest levels of the Judiciary.