NEW DELHI: Gender discrimination and bias have subsided on the surface but continue to operate surreptitiously and women lawyers often face stereotypes questioning their authority, former Supreme Court judge Justice Hima Kohli said on Friday.She underlined in the last 75 years, no woman lawyer had been appointed as the attorney general (AG), or held the post of the solicitor general (SG), indicating the challenges women legal practitioners face.Justice Kohli was delivering a keynote address at an event to commemorate “100 years of women in law in the country”.The landmark Legal Practitioners (Women) Act allowing women the right to practice law in India was notified in 1923.”Gender discrimination, gender bias, which was rampant from early days, has overtly subsided but continues to persist in surreptitious force. Women lawyers have often encountered stereotypes that question their competence and their authority, the perception that women are less aggressive or authoritative compared to their male counterparts,” Justice Kohli said.She said the bias had impacted the “hiring practices” and limited the opportunities for advancement of women lawyers within the legal firms and courts.
Source link
