The barriers that women face in the legal profession are an extension of societal barriers that they face and these societal barriers need to be addressed as well to facilitate women’s entry in the legal profession, according to former Chief Justice DY Chandrachudread moreFormer Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has said that the judiciary as well as the society need to lower entry barrierse so that more women may enter the legal profession.In a conversation with Zakka Jacob and Ananya Bhatnagar at the News 18 Rising Bharat Summit 2025, Chandrachud said that barriers to women in entering the legal profession are part of the broader barriers that women face in the society.The Indian judiciary has often been criticised for not having enough representation of women, particularly at the highest levels.AdvertisementAs per the information shared by the government in the parliament, as of January 2023, only 13.6 per cent judges in the high courts were women and 15 Indian states had only 15.3 per cent women lawyers — the rest of the states apparently did not even have such data.More from India
We will have to lower entry barriers for more women to enter judiciary: Former CJI Chandrachud
India’s youth must uproot politics of appeasement, says Amit Shah at Rising Bharat Summit
How US plan to scrap work option for students has put 3 lakh Indians in a limboThe barriers that women face in the legal profession are an extension of such societal barriers, said Chandrachud.‘Women have disproportionate burden in society’Women have a very disproportionate burden in the family and society and that affects their ability to work, said Chandrachud.“The issue about creating a level playing field for women is not just an issue of the legal profession. It is an issue which has a broader social content. Take a very simple case where both spouses work and you have a child. There’s a parent teacher’s meeting. Who goes to those meetings? If the child falls sick and is down with measles for two weeks, who stays home? The mother. Who stays home when the woman is expecting a child and she’s in advanced stage of pregnancy? Obviously the person who’s carrying a child. Now, what happens the result of these societal inhibitions and barriers?” said Chandrachud.He further said, “If a woman had a break for three or five years when the children were young, it becomes extremely difficult to get back at the same level as a male counterpart would be at.”Besides changing the social attitude, Chandrachud suggested that some institutional changes may also need to be made to address the situation, such as relaxing certain standards to facilitate more women’s entry into the profession and taking into account the breaks in career they may have to take, such as for childbirth or taking care of a child in their early years.AdvertisementTo be sure, such norms exist in the judicuary but not so much in the private sector that is a cause of concern, said Chandrachud.“We have standards and well-established rules which allow for maternity leave and leaves at different stages of a woman’s career, such as when a child is appearing for 10th board examination or 12th board examination. When you have structured rules which provide for a level playing field for women, women are able to really respond to the challenges of the profession. The problem arises in the unstructured private market in the legal profession where you have individual lawyers recruiting juniors,” said Chandrachud.As the issue is part of the broader societal issues affecting women, the solution goes beyond the legal profession, said Chandrachud.He said, “How do we ensure that we have a more socially responsible and socially responsibly profession? That’s therefore something which the law can do only to a certain extent. The law is not an answer to everything. The change has to come through and it has to take place within society.”AdvertisementBut there is silver liningEven though the numbers for women lawyers and judges are poor and there exist several barriers, Chandrachud said that there is a silver lining as more and more women are joininig the judiciary at the grassroot level.As per the India Justice Report 2022, 35 per cent of all judges at the district-level are women. The number is only expected to have grown since.When talking about district courts, Chandrachud said that “you would find that that’s the place where the social barriers are being broken down”.At the district level, the recruitment is structured and based on competitive examinations and interviews, irrespective of the command over English as the local or regional language is the language of the courts, and gives a level-playing field to women, particularly for women, and you would find that’s the place where the social barriers are being broken down, said Chandrachud.At the highest levels, however, little appears to have changed. Since 1990, only 11 women judges have been appointed to the Supreme Court, according to the data shared with the parliament in January 2023. Currently, there is only one women judge —BV Nagarathna— in the Apex Court.AdvertisementEnd of Article
More here:
We will have to lower entry barriers for more women to enter judiciary: Former CJI Chandrachud
