Handbook on Gender Stereotypes Recently the Chief Justice of India (CJI) released a handbook, incorporating gender stereotypes with the purpose of guiding judges in avoiding the usage of inappropriate gender terms in court orders and legal documents. Under this document, it includes the legal discourse
Handbook on Gender Stereotypes
Supreme Court had released a Handbook
This handbook is prepared by a committee headed by Calcutta High Court judge Moushumi Bhattacharya, where this handbook not only identifies language that promotes gender stereotypes and offered suitable alternatives but also flags common but incorrect reasoning patterns based on gender stereotypes. This stereotypes. The stereotypes include those bias which is based on her choice of clothes, her sexual past, and how her actions and statements are assessed in judicial proceedings during her pleading in court.
Suggested Language in Supreme Court’s Handbook
| Stereotype Promoting Language (Incorrect) | Alternative Language (Preferred) |
|---|---|
| Affair | Relationship outside of marriage |
| Concubine / keep | Woman with whom a man has had romantic or sexual relations outside of marriage |
| Child prostitute | Relationships outside of marriage |
| Eve teasing | Street sexual harassment |
| Forcible rape | Rape |
| Hooker / Prostitute | Sex worker |
| Ladylike | The child who has been trafficked |
| Marriageable age | A woman who has attained the legal age required to marry |
| Mistress | Woman with whom a man has had romantic or sexual relations outside of marriage |
| Unwed Mother | Mother |
| Woman of loose morals / easy virtue / promiscuous woman / wanton woman / whore | Woman |
| Violated (e.g., he violated her) | Clothing/dress |
| Use a gender-neutral description of behaviour or characteristics (e.g., amusing or assertive) | Sexually harassed/assaulted or raped |
| Ravished (e.g., she was “ravished” by him) | Provocative clothing/dress |
| Survivor or Victim? | An individual who has been affected by sexual violence may identify themselves as either a “survivor” or “victim”. Both terms are applicable unless the individual has expressed a preference, in which case the individual’s preference should be respected. |
Handbook on Gender Stereotypes
https://main.sci.gov.in/pdf/LU/16082023_073106.pdf
Who published the handbook on gender stereotypes?
Supreme Court published the handbook on gender stereotypes