Justice Gita Mittal
Jammu and Kashmir High Court
“Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want.”
- Dianne Feinstein
What do womxn Want? Where India of our dreams ought to be by its 75th Year of Independence?
Let’s hear it from the womxn who are the flag bearers of the legal fraternity in India!
Together we have covered quite a distance, overcome many a prejudice and in the last decade womxn have outscored Men on most leadership competencies.
Most certainly it is not a competition. It is not about wins or losses. It is simply about ensuring Diversity, Inclusivity, & Parity.
It was in 1989 that a woman, Justice Fathima Beevi was first appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court of India. Since then, only 7 womxn have been appointed as Judges of the Top Court. Even today only 2 out of the total 33 sitting judges are womxn.
Are we keeping pace with the times? While the legal profession has evolved as a level-playing field for men and womxn with no active discrimination, the statistics leave much to be desired of the fraternity.
According to surveys conducted by leading legal publications, for every 100 senior lawyers at law firms only 15 are womxn. And on average for every 100 Partners at top thirty Indian law firms only 30 are womxn, as of 2019.
Yet, what continues to be appreciable are the winds of change!
womxn are breaking the glass ceiling when it comes to creating and managing successful careers in the legal profession. The archaic notion of giving up careers post marriage and the skepticism around womxn in leadership roles are now relics of the past.
As Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, "Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time."
On International womxn’s Day 2021, to bring real and enduring change one conversation at a time, BW Legal World in association with BW Businessworld is excited to bring to you a virtual conference titled Gearing up for India@75: What womxn Want—A BW Legal World Dialogue with womxn Leaders in Law.
The virtual conference will bring leading womxn lawyers in the country on one platform to celebrate the womxn leaders in law and discuss workplace policies that ought to be in place in India@75!