At present, the Supreme Court has a total number of 34 sitting judges, out of which only 3 are women. In the history of Independent India, we have had a total number of 47 Chief Justices, all men. The total number of Senior Advocates in the Supreme Court is 420, out of which only 6 are female lawyers. The situation is even worst when we descend to lower courts. More women are coming into the legal profession, but when it comes to moving ahead as judges, they tend to fall off the radar.
Some women have received the glittering prizes that success at the Bar enables. The course of the journey for them has been much more challenging than others since the beginning. They continued to overcome the many obstacles throughout their careers, while there still was a clear disparity between men and women in the field. Women in almost all areas of the workforce are confronted with sexism, stereotyping, and lack of awareness of intersectionalism among other challenges.
The courtrooms, the decorum, the role of conduct and, above all, the court proceedings inspires and motivates budding young lawyers to excel and contribute to the legal system and any female lawyer is no exception. Hence the legal profession in our country has now started welcoming women lawyers with of course, not complete open doors; though progressing, still far behind for this century. While women outnumber and outshine their male counterparts in courts across the country, their presence is almost non-existent in the top echelons of legal practice and the judiciary.
Gender segregation remains a recurring theme across litigation, regardless of size and area of focus. Over time, the definition of competent lawyer has become clearer as the one who can think to forgo the gender biases. When the legal profession was almost entirely male, almost no one thought of examining the tensions between work and family. As the number of women in the legal profession has increased, now reaching about 40% of students finishing law school each year, interest has grown in the problems of balancing family and work. There is also pressure for women to be better than their male colleagues, and women lawyers or judges who fight to make their voices heard are often described as aggressive.
To conclude, it is not wrong to say that women in this profession also need to be more proactive. We should come together to tackle issues of gender biases in the corridors of law and while it may not change things overnight, but certainly can change. In recent years, the courts have made several gender-friendly amendments and have now started appreciating the services of many talented women.
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