Gender Equality in the Law - India Case Study
by Vansh Arora edited by Dr L.S.Spedding
Introduction
About 100 years since the abolition of the ban on women from practising law in India, the legal sector in India still remains male-dominated and quite or largely hostile towards women. According to the latest available statistics, only 10% of India’s lawyers are women. This has led to a lower proportion of women judges as well since ten years’ practice is required to become a judge. India has the smallest share of women on the bench among the 122 countries with at least 1 female justice in higher judiciary, according to a World Bank study. This article seeks to examine the reasons behind why this is still the case. The statistics are sourced from public domain sources from 2019.
Challenges
Even though women have been allowed in theory to practice law for almost a century, in fact not many women became lawyers due to several practical persisting challenges. For example, traits required to argue in court, such as aggressiveness, cunning and tenacity were not the traits that the conservative family system wanted women to have. They were traditionally taught to be more docile and accommodating, traits which are looked upon rather negatively within the legal sector to become effective or successful. Indeed, Madhavi Diwan, a prominent female lawyer in India, during her recent address at Oxford, stated that even today, aggression and tenacity have been held up as necessary virtues to succeed at the bar, win cases and achieve a strong reputation. This places many women at a disadvantage because they have been taught since birth to be more empathetic, understanding and to be less aggressive.
Even if women enter the legal sphere, unfortunately they are generally subject to a great degree of prejudice. This is highlighted in the nature of cases given to women, which mainly revolve around family life. There is also a great degree of distrust among lawyers and clients to give women commercial work in terms of their professional capacity and effectiveness. This pigeonholing is prominent even in the top firms. Moreover in a related commercial area, of the Top 100 corporate dealmakers, only around 25% are women.
The barriers do not end here. Sexual harassment is the ‘hidden dirty secret’ of the legal profession in India faced by both women lawyers and women judges, according reported comments made by the prominent female legal personality Indira Jaising. The system is stacked against them. One supreme court lawyer said that she was harassed in the halls of the court, which is a representative experience in India. These grim realities further discourage women from entering into - and pursuing - the profession. Women may be forced to accept harassment and discrimination as part of their reality. This is especially true in litigation because to get good career experience, most lawyers work in the firm of a top lawyer who is usually a male. Even after beating these odds, facing harassment from colleagues and being looked down upon in terms of capability - and judged to a higher standard by their male superiors - women often still do not have the ability to advance their career because the system has a male approach. As of 2019, only 3 female lawyers had been
Career advancement in firms is also next to impossible. The average percentage of women making up partnership at the top 30 law firms in India is 30%. This clearly shows the attitude of the legal world towards women.
Recent Trends
There is some hope evident in recent trends and statistics that could lead to a more balanced legal profession. According to a recent overview of law firms, Samvad Partners has a gender balance of 64% in favour of women in its partnership of 14. At IndusLaw, all 4 of its new partners made in April 2019 were women. At Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and AZB & Partners this year, respectively 42% and 40% of new partners were women.This gives some indication that women are being given equal opportunities to grow and develop their careers and are being treated at par with males in the field, which could open the door to positive changes in the legal sector as a whole. In the judiciary there is also some positive change with 3 women being appointed as Supreme Court justices, with India poised to have its first female chief justice by 2027.
Another useful point is that there are quite a few prominent women lawyers in India involved in some of the most historic and groundbreaking reported cases. By way of example, Menaka Guruswamy was involved in abolishing the outdated section 377 that outlawed homosexuality along with Arundhati Katju. Seema Samridhi was at the forefront of Indian sexual assault reform after the Nirbhaya gang rape case. These strong role models have inspired young girls to consider law as a field for future work. Other women have found their calling helping others. For instance , Legal Initiative for Equality was founded by a Dalit woman Kiruba Munuswamy to fight for the rights of the Dalit people. Misha, Ruby Ahuja and Shally Bhasin are also three up and coming lawyers who worked in a high profile bankruptcy case, thus proving that women are indeed just as good as men in the field of commercial law. They are also now working towards greater female representation in the judiciary.
Concluding Remarks
There are some efforts in the right direction but there is still a long time to go before proportionate representation is possible in the legal sector and practical pathways are needed across India as solutions to make the dynamic positive change and progress required.
Note
This data was sourced from the public domain referred to below. Anyone seeking to be acknowledged further please contact us.
https://thewire.in/law/women-lawyers-history-india
httphttps://www.law.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-10-31-women-legal-profession-indias://m.thewire.in/article/law/women-lawyers-history-indiahttps://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/interview-indira-jaising-senior-lawyer.html?fb_comment_id=1645647085530100_1969199899841482
https://www.legallyindia.com/india-unleashed-editorial/women-in-indian-law-firms-in-a-growing-minority-20190601-11000
https://www.legalindia.com/impact-of-increasing-women-in-indian-law-firms/
https://www.shethepeople.tv/top-stories/inspiration/indian-women-lawyers-rebecca-john-seema-samridhi-menaka-guruswamy/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-06/trio-of-women-lawyers-push-for-change-to-india-s-creaking-courts
About 100 years since the abolition of the ban on women from practising law in India, the legal sector in India still remains male-dominated and quite or largely hostile towards women. According to the latest available statistics, only 10% of India’s lawyers are women. This has led to a lower proportion of women judges as well since ten years’ practice is required to become a judge. India has the smallest share of women on the bench among the 122 countries with at least 1 female justice in higher judiciary, according to a World Bank study. This article seeks to examine the reasons behind why this is still the case. The statistics are sourced from public domain sources from 2019.
Challenges
Even though women have been allowed in theory to practice law for almost a century, in fact not many women became lawyers due to several practical persisting challenges. For example, traits required to argue in court, such as aggressiveness, cunning and tenacity were not the traits that the conservative family system wanted women to have. They were traditionally taught to be more docile and accommodating, traits which are looked upon rather negatively within the legal sector to become effective or successful. Indeed, Madhavi Diwan, a prominent female lawyer in India, during her recent address at Oxford, stated that even today, aggression and tenacity have been held up as necessary virtues to succeed at the bar, win cases and achieve a strong reputation. This places many women at a disadvantage because they have been taught since birth to be more empathetic, understanding and to be less aggressive.
Even if women enter the legal sphere, unfortunately they are generally subject to a great degree of prejudice. This is highlighted in the nature of cases given to women, which mainly revolve around family life. There is also a great degree of distrust among lawyers and clients to give women commercial work in terms of their professional capacity and effectiveness. This pigeonholing is prominent even in the top firms. Moreover in a related commercial area, of the Top 100 corporate dealmakers, only around 25% are women.
The barriers do not end here. Sexual harassment is the ‘hidden dirty secret’ of the legal profession in India faced by both women lawyers and women judges, according reported comments made by the prominent female legal personality Indira Jaising. The system is stacked against them. One supreme court lawyer said that she was harassed in the halls of the court, which is a representative experience in India. These grim realities further discourage women from entering into - and pursuing - the profession. Women may be forced to accept harassment and discrimination as part of their reality. This is especially true in litigation because to get good career experience, most lawyers work in the firm of a top lawyer who is usually a male. Even after beating these odds, facing harassment from colleagues and being looked down upon in terms of capability - and judged to a higher standard by their male superiors - women often still do not have the ability to advance their career because the system has a male approach. As of 2019, only 3 female lawyers had been
Career advancement in firms is also next to impossible. The average percentage of women making up partnership at the top 30 law firms in India is 30%. This clearly shows the attitude of the legal world towards women.
Recent Trends
There is some hope evident in recent trends and statistics that could lead to a more balanced legal profession. According to a recent overview of law firms, Samvad Partners has a gender balance of 64% in favour of women in its partnership of 14. At IndusLaw, all 4 of its new partners made in April 2019 were women. At Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and AZB & Partners this year, respectively 42% and 40% of new partners were women.This gives some indication that women are being given equal opportunities to grow and develop their careers and are being treated at par with males in the field, which could open the door to positive changes in the legal sector as a whole. In the judiciary there is also some positive change with 3 women being appointed as Supreme Court justices, with India poised to have its first female chief justice by 2027.
Another useful point is that there are quite a few prominent women lawyers in India involved in some of the most historic and groundbreaking reported cases. By way of example, Menaka Guruswamy was involved in abolishing the outdated section 377 that outlawed homosexuality along with Arundhati Katju. Seema Samridhi was at the forefront of Indian sexual assault reform after the Nirbhaya gang rape case. These strong role models have inspired young girls to consider law as a field for future work. Other women have found their calling helping others. For instance , Legal Initiative for Equality was founded by a Dalit woman Kiruba Munuswamy to fight for the rights of the Dalit people. Misha, Ruby Ahuja and Shally Bhasin are also three up and coming lawyers who worked in a high profile bankruptcy case, thus proving that women are indeed just as good as men in the field of commercial law. They are also now working towards greater female representation in the judiciary.
Concluding Remarks
There are some efforts in the right direction but there is still a long time to go before proportionate representation is possible in the legal sector and practical pathways are needed across India as solutions to make the dynamic positive change and progress required.
Note
This data was sourced from the public domain referred to below. Anyone seeking to be acknowledged further please contact us.
https://thewire.in/law/women-lawyers-history-india
httphttps://www.law.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-10-31-women-legal-profession-indias://m.thewire.in/article/law/women-lawyers-history-indiahttps://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/interview-indira-jaising-senior-lawyer.html?fb_comment_id=1645647085530100_1969199899841482
https://www.legallyindia.com/india-unleashed-editorial/women-in-indian-law-firms-in-a-growing-minority-20190601-11000
https://www.legalindia.com/impact-of-increasing-women-in-indian-law-firms/
https://www.shethepeople.tv/top-stories/inspiration/indian-women-lawyers-rebecca-john-seema-samridhi-menaka-guruswamy/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-06/trio-of-women-lawyers-push-for-change-to-india-s-creaking-courts