EDITORIAL: Although women’s participation in different public spheres has increased significantly during the recent years, they remain grossly under-represented in many fields, including the legal profession. The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) has highlighted this unpalatable fact in a recent report.
Noting that currently 126 judges are working in the upper echelon of the judiciary — the Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court, and the five high courts — the report goes on to point out that of them, 119 are male judges and only seven (merely 5.5 percent) females.
In the apex court there are 12 male and only two female justices. That, too, is a recent development. The first-ever female member of the bench, Justice Ayesha A. Malik was elevated from the Lahore High Court in 2022. She was followed the next year by Justice Musarrat Hilali of the Peshawar High Court.
In the second tier judiciary as well there is little positivity on this score. The one in Lahore has a single woman judge in its strength of 39, the Sindh High Court three out of 30, Islamabad High Court one out of eight, while women account for zilch percentage of the Peshawar and Balochistan high courts.
The situation is not any different at the district level, where out of 3,016 judicial officers 2,451 are men, and just 565 women. Furthermore, the LJCP report findings show that women make up only 15 percent of the prosecution officers, and are 17 percent of the lawyers enrolled in various bar associations.
Some may want to use these statistics to justify female under-representation in important positions. The key reason behind this imbalance, though, is unbridled gender discrimination. Standing in the way of women in this male-dominated society are social and cultural barriers emerging from deeply entrenched ideas about gender roles.
A few brave women, like the late Asma Jahangir who got elected as president of the Supreme Court Bar Association in 2010, have been able to break through these barriers. But the struggle for equal opportunities is still long and hard.
Women comprise more than half of this country’s population, fairness demands that this should find reflection in all aspects of the legal profession, including those making a case and those hearing them. This is important because based on their own experiences women bring different frames of references to the understanding and application of legal principles, especially where gender issues are involved.
It is about time the government together with other stakeholders took necessary steps to encourage women’s greater participation in the legal profession. Towards that end, the LJCP has suggested several reforms, including amendments to the relevant laws. These ought to be implemented urgently.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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