The legal profession continues to be dominated by the men both at the bar as well as on the bench. But women have carved out a space in the legal arena for themselves even though the fraternity still has a distance to achieve gender parity. However, women would get more representation both at the bar and on the bench, is what former Chief Justice of the Bombay HC Sujata Manohar, hopes. “The profession continues to be discriminatory for women. But there has been an improvement to an extent,” CJ Manohar said.
“More representation to women is necessary,” she said, pointing out the recent HC notification, designating 22 lawyers as senior counsels.
Notably, the list of new senior lawyers did not mention a single woman lawyer. CJ Manohar said, “Women do face discrimination. Thus, the criteria laid for designating advocates as senior counsels or judges can be relaxed for women. It will give more representation. But, one must not sacrifice quality.”
She said, women advocates continue to get fewer chances to argue before the courts. “They are limited to drafting and pleading work and that has been there since the onset but the prejudices have reduced. Now, a lot of young women are joining the profession, arguing cases independently. Hopefully, the picture would improve,” she said.
When it comes to opportunities to women junior lawyers to argue a case, senior advocates are the ones, who people accuse of discrimination as they ‘allegedly’ don’t give a chance to them. But one such junior was ‘fortunate’, as she says, to get a senior, who wooed everyone. “I was fortunate enough to have a senior who encouraged juniors, regardless of gender. It can boost self-confidence of a woman junior,” senior advocate Rajni Iyer said, adding, “Every senior advocate must give equal opportunities to every junior irrespective of their genders. It would create good atmosphere, boosting their confidence which will automatically give visibility.”
Advocate Kalyani Tulankar, who argued for activist Vidya Bal, for entry of women into Shani Shingnapur temple, says she has not faced discrimination in the court but adds, “At the end of the day, the judicial system is a reflection of our society, wherein gender disparity prevails,” Tulankar said.
