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MADURAI: Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Saturday flagged the “abysmal” women-to-men ratio in the legal profession and called for ensuring equal opportunities for women, asserting that there was no dearth of talented women lawyers.
Justice Chandrachud said, “Statistics inform us that for 50,000 male enrolments in Tamil Nadu, there are only 5,000 female enrolments.”
“The legal profession is not an equal-opportunity provider, and the statistics are the same across the country,” CJI Chandrachud said, adding,”The phase is changing. In the recent recruitment in the district judiciary, over 50% are women. But we have to create equal opportunities for women so that they do not fall by the wayside because they undertake multifold responsibilities as they progress in life.”
He was speaking at an event here to mark the foundation-stone-laying ceremony for the additional court buildings in the district court campus and the inauguration of the district and sessions court and that of the court of the chief judicial magistrate at Mayiladuthurai. The event was attended by Union law minister Kiren Rijiju and Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin.
Stating that there were two prominent stereotypes against women that translated into them being denied opportunities, the CJI said, “Firstly, recruiting chambers assume that women would be unable to put in long hours at work because of familial responsibilities. We should all understand that childbearing is a choice and women should not be punished for taking up that responsibility.” A male lawyer may also choose to be actively involved in childcare. “But as a society, we force the responsbility of family care only on the women and then use that very bias that we hold against to deny them opportunities,” he rued.
He requested the Chief Justice of the Madras HC to take steps in setting up creche facilities at the HC and all the district courts, saying this would go a long away in improving working conditions and providing substantative equal opportunities for women.
Justice Chandrachud said, “Statistics inform us that for 50,000 male enrolments in Tamil Nadu, there are only 5,000 female enrolments.”
“The legal profession is not an equal-opportunity provider, and the statistics are the same across the country,” CJI Chandrachud said, adding,”The phase is changing. In the recent recruitment in the district judiciary, over 50% are women. But we have to create equal opportunities for women so that they do not fall by the wayside because they undertake multifold responsibilities as they progress in life.”
He was speaking at an event here to mark the foundation-stone-laying ceremony for the additional court buildings in the district court campus and the inauguration of the district and sessions court and that of the court of the chief judicial magistrate at Mayiladuthurai. The event was attended by Union law minister Kiren Rijiju and Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin.
Stating that there were two prominent stereotypes against women that translated into them being denied opportunities, the CJI said, “Firstly, recruiting chambers assume that women would be unable to put in long hours at work because of familial responsibilities. We should all understand that childbearing is a choice and women should not be punished for taking up that responsibility.” A male lawyer may also choose to be actively involved in childcare. “But as a society, we force the responsbility of family care only on the women and then use that very bias that we hold against to deny them opportunities,” he rued.
He requested the Chief Justice of the Madras HC to take steps in setting up creche facilities at the HC and all the district courts, saying this would go a long away in improving working conditions and providing substantative equal opportunities for women.
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