According to the latest National Family Health Survey data, there are 1020 women for every 1000 men in the Indian population. However, the representation of women in fields such as the law is extremely finite. Although the country is making progress in every aspect there is a dramatic gap between the presentation of women and men in the field of law. But women should get an equal opportunity to rise in the legal profession in the Indian judicial system just as men do so naturally, and there are so many reasons in support of this argument.
Firstly, a woman is known to capably handle complicated situations with empathy and wit at the same time. They are capable of negotiating in such a subtle way that they easily get their way while at the same time land a major blow on their egoistic opponents. Secondly, Indian courts often come across many critical and sensitive cases which has women as victims of heinous crimes. In such a situation it is easier to handle the deepest and darkest avenues of the case if equally observed from the perspective of a woman. Moreover, it becomes easy for the women victims to talk and open up about the harrowing experiences if the lawyer who is talking to them is a woman. It cannot be denied that the plight of a woman can be best understood by another woman, especially when the case demands that the lawyer puts herself in the position of the client and understand the nitty-gritty. Nevertheless, over the years India has seen some very famous and incredibly capable and exemplary women who have excelled in the legal profession and are still considered inspirations for many young women who have always aspired to become a lawyer.
Top female lawyers in India
Mishi Choudhary
This lady has had a remarkable career in the field of law; her tenure as a lawyer in the Indian Supreme Court as well as the US Supreme Court is a testament to this fact. Today, she personifies the conviction behind women’s empowerment and emancipation ideals. It is an obvious fact that the legal system and the judicial system of both India and the US are entirely different but Chaudhary ably balanced these two entirely different systems without faltering even once. Besides her prosperous law career, she is also a digital rights activist who has had several noteworthy achievements in her kitty. Amongst her achievements, the most impressive one is that she is considered one of the best technology lawyers in India.
Vrinda Grover
Recognized as one of the top 10 female lawyers in India she has been acknowledged by Time magazine as one of the 100 most powerful women of the year 2013. Besides being a lawyer, she is also a human rights activist who has had an immense influence on the women’s rights movement in India. At the same time, she has worked on domestic violence cases and the cases that involved minorities and the issues and problems that they particularly face in society.
Indira Jaising
With her proficiency in law, this extraordinary lady is capable of taking down anyone who is a threat to women's rights in India. Throughout her life, she has been committed to the cause of human rights. She went on to establish the Lawyers Collective along with her husband Anand Grover in the year 1981 which has been since then working chiefly in the domain of protection and preservation of human rights. In fact, she is also the first woman who got appointed as an Additional Solicitor General of India in the year 2009.
Meenakshi Arora
She is currently practising in the capacity of a senior counsellor in the Supreme Court of India and has maintained an unbiased share of contributions to protecting the rights of women in India. Being a staunch votary and defender of women’s rights, she also joined and became an active part of the Gender Sensitization and Internal Complaints Committee of the Supreme Court, where her main role was to get the Vishaka Guidelines accepted and implemented, which later appeared in the form of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013.
Karuna Nundy
She is a significant part of the drafting of the Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2013 and works in the human rights lawsuit at the Indian Supreme Court. She has made active contributions to the Gender Justice Movement of India and fought for the rights of the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.
Meenakshi Lekhi
Besides being one of the top female lawyers of India at the Supreme Court, she is also a member of parliament in the Lok Sabha. She has played a crucial role in Drafting Committees for Bills like the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace bill and the Women’s Reservation Bill.
Menaka Guruswamy
She is a renowned and talented lawyer at the Supreme Court of India who has relentlessly worked to guard provision in the right to Education Act which states that all the private schools should recognize the disadvantaged children as their students. She was also a part of a group of female lawyers who fought regarding the inspirational revoking of section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
With the immense contributions from these strong and exemplary women that today the country is a far more liberal, cohesive, and open society. These women as lawyers have not only proven the strength and moral fibre of women in managing legal cases but also the fact that women can cornubite immensely to the causes of the society and lead a life in such a manner that generations to come, be male or female, will have someone to look up to and believe in the fact that no matter what comes, they can make their dream comes true. And since ours is still very much a patriarchal society, it is the future girls who need to find hopes kindled and protected by the success stories of these successful women lawyers in India to find motivation and determination to secure their dream and fulfil them.