38.5% women lawyers find legal profession discouraging; 33.1% experienced gender bias: SCBA survey

A Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) survey has captured the experiences of women advocates in the profession. The data reflects their views on leadership opportunities, gender bias, career choices and the effect of marriage and motherhood on work..The survey was presented at the SCBA event titled “We Women Empowerment in Law: A Panel Discussion on Strength, Struggle and Success”.In the question answered by 301 respondents, 84.1 per cent identified themselves as first-generation lawyers while 15.9 percent said they were not. On professional experience, based on 301 responses, 38.5 percent marked it as discouraging, 25.2 percent as encouraging, 17.6 percent as more encouraging with each passing day, 11.3 percent as very encouraging and smaller percentages selected the remaining categories..Leadership remained a divided space. Out of 296 responses, 57.8 percent said women do not have equal opportunity for leadership roles in the Bar, while 42.2 percent said they do. In a separate question with 299 responses, 58.9 percent said they would consider taking up leadership posts in Bar councils and associations, 30.4 percent said no and 10.7 percent were still exploring..On gender bias, among 299 respondents, 33.1 percent said they had experienced bias, 23.1 percent said no, 5.3 percent preferred not to say, 29.1 percent said they experienced it occasionally and 9.4 percent said frequently. A comparative chart showed that first-generation women reported occasional bias at 39.6 percent while the figure for others was 35.1 percent..Marriage and childcare generated significant responses. In the set of 249 respondents, 38.2 percent said they faced hardship in continuing work after marriage. When deciding to have a child, 33.5 percent of 236 respondents said they faced hardship. Hardship after childbirth was reported by 56.8 percent and difficulties in securing deferment of cases during that period were reported by 31.3 percent of 230 respondents.Support for accommodation related to caregiving responsibilities was split. Among 231 respondents, 52.4 percent said they received support, while 47.6 percent said they did not. Institutional policies such as maternity leave, creche facilities and flexible working hours were supported by 95.4 percent of 283 respondents..Work life balance was the most cited challenge at 34.2 per cent. Job opportunities accounted for 16.4 percent, lack of pay parity for 14 percent, inadequate mentorship for 13.7 percent, unrealistic expectations for 9.6 percent, sexual harassment at the workplace for 6.2 percent, mental health concerns for 2.1 percent, inadequate training in court craft for 2.1 percent, inadequate training in drafting for 1.4 percent and access to research platforms for 0.3 percent.Career choices also saw clear patterns. In the question with 295 responses on transitioning from law practice to the judiciary, 43.1 percent said yes, 31.2 percent said no and 25.8 percent were still exploring. When asked if they would suggest a career in law to their daughters or girls in their close circle, 64.1 percent of 295 respondents said yes, 20.7 percent said maybe and 15.3 percent said no. In selecting a preferred stream for them, among 288 responses, corporate roles received 39.6 percent, litigation 36.1 percent, judiciary 13.5 percent and academics 10.8 percent..Career guidance based on generation showed that first-generation women reported litigation at 34.9 percent, judiciary at 36.9 percent, academy at 9 percent and corporate at 18.4 percent. Second-generation respondents marked litigation at 29.4 percent, judiciary at 39.2 percent, academy at 15.7 percent and corporate at 9.8 percent..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.