Abstract
Men have traditionally dominated legal profession in India. Women’s entry could be possible only after long and protracted legal battles, and even then, their presence in the courts remained insignificant until the end of the twentieth century. However, the policy of globalisation in the twenty-first century has provided additional opportunities to Indian women in legal education and training. The invasion of modernity has not only moderated the court environment but has also put an end to the medieval male chauvinism in the profession. The present paper, based on the data collected from the District Court in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, critically analyses the gender bias, sexual morality and criminal discourse within the court premises, in addition to women’s role and status as legal professionals, wives, mothers and daughters-in-law in the disintegrating joint family structure.
Highlights
Feminism is a movement that has grown around an ideology and aims at defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic and social rights for women, including equal opportunities in education, occupation, profession and other kinds of employment dominated exclusively by men since antiquity
As can be seen from the table, the number of women legal professionals registered during the decade of 1980-90 was a meagre 5, but rose sharply to 16 and 37 in the two decades
As the figure shows, while only 17% of the current women legal practitioners at the District Court Lucknow were registered during the decade of 1980-90, 23% were registered in the decade of 1991-2000, and a whopping 53% during the decade 2001-10
Summary
Feminism is a movement that has grown around an ideology and aims at defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic and social rights for women, including equal opportunities in education, occupation, profession and other kinds of employment dominated exclusively by men since antiquity. The feminist movement can be divided into three phases. The first phase of the movement lasted from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century, and dealt with the issues of equal suffrage, working conditions and educational rights for women and girls. The second wave, which started in the 1960s and continued until the 1980s, concerned itself with inequalities faced by women and their role in the society. The third and final phase, from the late 1980s until the early 2000s, is considered both a continuation of the second phase and a feminist response to the perceived failures of the earlier ‘waves’
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