More number of women are joining the Bar but.....: What CJI Surya Kant said

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Saturday said that although there has been a steady rise in the number of women joining the legal profession, only a small percentage ultimately continue to lead what he described as the “true professional life in the law..The CJI said that there is considerable equality at the entry level, whether in law schools or the legal profession.However, he noted that very few women are able to sustain that equality at later stages of their careers."There is a very growing trend in the last couple of years that women are joining the Bar. The problem starts after that. I think the question is that, are we able to maintain that equality at the subsequent stages of progression in professional life,” he stated..The Chief Justice was speaking at the National Conference organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on the theme “Reimagining Judicial Governance: Strengthening Institutions for Democratic Justice.” He addressed the third session on the topic “Inclusive Institutions and Women in the Legal Profession.”.At the outset, the CJI lauded a first of its kind national survey on the welfare of women advocates. He noted that the report not only identifies challenges faced by women lawyers but also provides a roadmap to address them.“The best part of the report is that it merely does not flag the problem or the issue or the challenge, it also tries to respond to it as to what can be the effective response to that, and the answer given is gender based discrimination in work allocation, briefing and empanelment,” he remarked..CJI Kant went on to underscore that equality within the constitutional framework cannot remain confined to paper and must translate into lived experiences.“I personally believe that when we talk of equality within our constitutional framework, this equality is not merely on papers. So the equality has to be translated into the lived experiences, and for that we have to take initiative at different levels,” he said..He suggested that at least 50 percent representation of women should be ensured in government empanelment and legal aid panels.“I always find that in the government empanelment of advocates, let us ensure that we do not go by 30 percent, but at least 50 percent women lawyers should be empanelled as government counsel,” he suggested.He added that such a measure would provide both opportunity and a degree of professional stability to women lawyers..The CJI also stressed the need for institutional support mechanisms, including maternity protection, financial assistance in the early years of practice and the creation of safe working environments.He described the report as a guiding document for reform.“So this report itself, to my mind, is a guide. It is a guidebook. It is something it really should hold as a smaller mini constitution for us, and we should follow all the analysis done in it,” he remarked.