Legal Profession Is Driven By Men; Women Compelled To Have Restricted Practice: Justice Sharmila Deshmukh

The legal profession is a male dominated profession wherein the mindset of the litigants is that they would be okay to lose with an 'incompetent' male lawyer but not lose with a 'competent' female lawyer, said Bombay High Court judge Justice Sharmila Deshmukh recently. 

The judge bemoaned the lack of 'equal playing field' for woman lawyers, which compels them to have a 'restricted' practice.

"This is a secret, which everybody knows but nobody wants to acknowledge... Our profession is usually driven by men... it is a public driven, client driven (profession) and the public mindset is this that they would lose with an incompetent male but do not want to lose with a competent female..." Justice Deshmukh said. 

The judge said that women in the legal profession only seek equal opportunities and if given, they will excel in the work by putting in more efforts than their male counterparts. 

"Give a chance to any female, I am sure and I can give it in writing with 100 per cent guarantee that the efforts, a woman lawyer or a woman judge puts in every matter will be 200 per cent. But it is the lack of an opportunity... lack of an equal playing field because of which we do not find many women lawyers coming to the court..." Justice Deshmukh said. 

The judge further pointed out that because of such lack of opportunities, it becomes difficult to find women candidates for judgeship.

"Today when we are looking for elevation of women judges, we are finding it difficult not because there are not competent woman lawyers but the reason that they have not been given the opportunity to express themselves, not given an opportunity for that exposure which is required... This needs to be addressed... may be the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa (BCMG) can take some positive measures towards this... but this is a fact in this profession and everybody needs to acknowledge this fact..." the judge said. 

Reflecting on her own journey as a woman lawyer, Justice Deshmukh said, "I was not in a restricted field by choice... I was in a restricted field because whatever matters I used to get I addressed that... I am thankful to the High Court judges, who recognised that even in that restricted field I had some capabilities, which they could recognise and I could be elevated as a judge... Therefore, I hope we find more and more women judges, who will take up this mantle."

The judge was delivering the inaugural speech at a lecture series organised by the Bombay City Civil and Sessions Court Bar Association in collaboration with the Mulund, Vikhroli and Kurla Bar Associations along with the Department of Law, University of Mumbai. The lecture was on 'practical approach in criminal trial.'