Tokenism to increase number of women in judiciary against their interests in the long run: SG Tushar Mehta

Token measures to promote women in the legal profession and increase their representation at the bar and the judiciary would go against their interests in the long run, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta said on Saturday. .SG Mehta, however, said that professional positions are different from elective offices as there is a need for special seats to be reserved to ensure leadership roles for women..He stated that women are competent to succeed in legal profession even without any token measures and many women who made the cut did so not because they were women but despite being women. "Are all of you successful because or despite being ladies? This tokenism in the long run would be against the interest of ladies itself. Justice Sujata Manohar is great not because of being a lady. I would appeal to all to not go for tokenism. You will get what you deserve. Designating certain seats in judiciary will be an insult. Ladies are competent," he said. He further said that viewing women as mere statistics might not be the correct approach and highlighted the case of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who is remembered as one of the most powerful PMs the country has had."Success of any man or woman cannot be judged by statistical figures. It is often cited nowadays (that there are) so few numbers of lawyers, judges. Do we just want statistics? If you look at our history of powerful Prime Ministers, starting from Jawaharlal Nehru, and Indira Gandhi, for us one was enough. Do we need to say 33 per cent Prime Ministers are women, or is it needed in the judiciary as tokenism and in legislature. It is insulting to the ladies to count success in statistics," he said. .The SG was speaking at an event organised by the Ladies Group of Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) to commemorate International Women's Day 2024."Women are already ahead of men, wanting to move ahead with ambition was frowned upon but India has always worshipped the lady. Only in India the most powerful also bow before a female deity. There is a superiority as far as women are concerned," he said.He concluded by saying that women are the superior and stronger sex and only the weak and mischievous among men state otherwise."I think the movement of equality should start from and by men," he said. .SILF president Dr. Lalit Bhasin in his address bemoaned the lack of women in key positions and institutions. "In all these years of existence the National Human Rights Commission which should be a shining example of fairness including gender justice, there has been no woman commissioner at all. These need to be addressed," he stressed.Shweta Bharti, Managing Partner at Hammurabi & Solomon Partners, stated that the challenges for women in the legal profession still persist."Gender equality and diversity also brings about economics and business case. Diverse teams are considered to be better decision makers. In one of the studies, it was found that diverse teams have a 60% improvement in decision making."