Raising The Bar: How Women May Finally Break Into India’s Legal Old-Boys’ Club

In courts across India, as the State Bar Council elections approach, flyers feature women in black-and-white, each with the message “vote for” them. While in the past, the outcome for women has been abysmal, this year, there is more confidence. The Supreme Court has mandated that women should hold at least 30 per cent of the seats in State Bar Councils.

The Supreme Court’s decision is quickly changing India’s legal community, which has often been called an “old-boys’ club.” Indian women lawyers say that the order—20 per cent of seats by direct election and 10 per cent by co-option if required—is a historic and corrective step.

 Advocate Sangeeta Sondhi, who is running in the Delhi Bar elections, calls it: “Epochal. Revolutionary. An endeavour to bring equitable justice.”

Women lawyers have long pointed out the double standards in the legal profession. Women have to work twice as hard as men to be recognised for the same achievements, says advocate Raj Sharma. And they still face social constraints: “Socially, also if a person is coming to be a lady lawyer, they have this hesitation to be able to because that is the way society is made,” she says. 

Getting seats within the bar itself has been an uphill climb, many say. “Men do not like taking orders from women, so why would they elect us to the bar where we could have control over things such as their practising licenses,” points out lawyer Seema Khushwaha. 

New Rule, New Challenges

The Bar Council has long been a boys’ club, “In a limited way,” says Sondhi, adding that, “If you are not part of the drink and dine club, you can suffer career-wise sometimes.” Now she says, “The time has come to change the culture.”

For women lawyers, the top court’s order is thus both a victory and the beginning of new challenges. They are prepared to fight for seats, having for the first time a chance at winning, but they will now also have the power to change an institution that has long excluded them in discreet ways. 

But first, says advocate Rekha Tiwari, there needs to be a mindset shift. “The women have to get this thing into their mind that they can have both, they don't have to feel guilty about it, that ‘if I'll go for work, then I won't be able to take care of my child and all this sort of mindset,” she says.

For a long time, Sondhi, too, says that women are not penalised; often, they suffer on account of dual responsibilities. Marriage entails multitasking in the male-dominated world.” She adds that the order and elections will “spread the word that we will change the world.” 

What Does The SC Order Say?

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the court order is aligned with India’s Constitution's ethos of absolute, representational equality, not just tokenism. 

According to the court order, if the election takes place after the order, the state bar councils must ensure that women have a 30 per cent representation within the organisation in elected and officer-level seats. However, as pointed out in the petition itself, several state bar council elections are underway. In those cases, the court ordered that the representation gap must be filled by co-option. The court also said that the Bar Council of India should treat the order as having amended its rules. The court’s intention to stop any further delay in these reforms is apparent from the order. 

Women’s legal groups responded with excitement. The Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association celebrated the order as a “landmark leap” for gender equality. “This order is sure to break the glass ceilings that have haunted women in the Indian legal landscape for a long time,” says senior advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani, President of the Supreme Court Women Lawyers’ Association (SCWLA).

Many in the profession feel this change is overdue, since women are still under-represented in bar leadership even though more women are graduating from law school and working as junior lawyers.

Is Top Court Ruling Against Meritocracy?

Not everyone is celebrating the apex court’s ruling. Online, critics have raised the issue of tokenism, saying that quotas could easily become a mere formality where women will be placed in seats but lack the influence to make any fundamental changes. 

The women who are running in the elections appear to be aware of this risk. Whether they can mitigate such a risk, says Sondhi, “will depend on the elected candidates as to how they will conduct themselves in the Bar Council. And the integrity and empathy they will display. A bar council is only as good as its members.”

Legal commentators have said that for representation to be honest, there needs to be a corresponding cultural change in India’s courtrooms and bar associations. “This is still a profession in which personal connections and old hierarchies still shape who gets noticed and who gets opportunities…this may work well for those women who are already connected in the right way and work against those who are not so lucky,” points out one former judge, not wanting to be identified. 

What Difference Will Women Make?

But the women who are running remain unfazed by the criticism. They are readying themselves to make a difference. “I will focus on every issue that comes my way. Gender discrimination will matter, dignity of the profession will be restored, clean washrooms, better canteens, and creches for women lawyers will be some of my areas of concern,” says Sondhi. In some cities, Hyderabad, for instance, women lawyers have staged protests demanding immediate implementation of the apex court order and for timely notification of bar elections. However, the court remains inundated with appeals, with bar associations arguing that election schedules or procedural constraints will make the court-ordered changes difficult to implement. For the hundreds of women now getting ready to contest the bar council elections, the challenge will be a very real change, but also one that is symbolic. Winning a reserved seat will require not just an electoral strategy but also organising within court complexes and among practising advocates. “It’s not just the reservation, which is going to help, it's some sort of inspiration, motivation for women lawyers, helping them gain courage,” points out Tiwari. The impact of the order will depend on how well State Bar Councils translate the court’s decision into rules and daily practice, and whether women in these roles can set priorities rather than just be present. As one senior woman lawyer told her colleagues this week, the goal is not just to enter decision-making rooms, but to change how things work inside them. If the courts’ efforts are matched by real support within the bar, this could start a significant shift in India’s legal system, making it better reflect the diversity of its lawyers.