Why India needs more women lawyers

As Women Lawyers’ Association celebrated its golden jubilee this year, there were still major concerns about the lack of women lawyers in the country. Like many other professions, law too is short of women lawyers. The former chief justice of India, during the celebrations, said, “There is an almost equivalent ratio of women and men in law schools and colleges, but when they move up in the ladder from students to lawyers and then Benches, the number of females in the profession drastically reduces.”

Many, including Justice Sathasivam, feel that women bring attributes to the profession that men don’t. Qualities like empathy, understanding and acceptance are possessed more by women than men in cases related to child abuse, domestic violence, gender discrimination etc. In accordance with this, he urged the legal fraternity to initiate more women into the profession.

The Hindu>

According to The Hindu, Justice F.M.Ibrahim Kalifulla expressed his concern regarding women’s knowledge of their rights. He recommended that the Asssociation and Madras High Court conduct legal literacy programmes to prevent women from abuse. He also added that the transgenders were equally entitled to the same protection as women.

Mr.Justice Sathasivam revealed, “In the 2011 report of National Crime Record Bureau, the statistics reveal that the percentage of trials pending in rape cases is 83.6 per cent. Further, there are about 677 rape cases which had been registered in Tamil Nadu in 2011, which aggregates to two cases being registered everyday. Thus, women lawyers have a greater role to play in such situations.”

According to Justice M.Y.Eqbal, mixed with their talent and enterprise, the reason women have proved to be exceptionally successful in the profession is because of the innate emotional intelligence they possess.

ORIGINAL SOURCE: The Hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/women-lawyers-vital-for-transformation-of-future-society/article4516487.ece