Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes

This handbook was released on August 16, 2023, by the Supreme Court of India. Ideated as a knowledge resource of the e-Committee of the Supreme Court, this handbook aims to “identify, understand and combat” stereotypical language wielded against women. It encourages the use of an unprejudiced vocabulary while drafting court pleadings, orders and judgements. To this end, the handbook contains a glossary of “gender-unjust” terms and suggests words which can be used in their stead. The handbook also lists precedents laid down by the Supreme Court of India which reject prevailing stereotypes, especially those concerning sexual violence. For example, in Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2018), a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court decriminalised adultery as a crime under Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. In only punishing sexual relations outside of marriage with a married woman, this Section was “based on the constitutionally untenable rationale that the woman was the property of the (second) man”, the handbook notes. It contains a foreword by Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, Chief Justice of India...