“The problem is not entry, it is retention”: SCBA survey reveals structural barriers faced by women in the legal profession
With 84.1% first-generation entrants and 57.8% reporting unequal leadership opportunities, the SCBA survey maps persistent gender gaps.
Ajitesh Singh
Published on: 4 December 2025, 09:02 pm
AT A PACKED AUDITORIUM in the Supreme Court’s C-Block, the Supreme Court Bar Association (‘SCBA’) convened a gathering on Wednesday for its panel discussion titled “We – Women Empowerment in Law: Strength, Struggle and Success.” The event marked a significant moment in the legal community’s ongoing reckoning with gender inequality in the profession. The panel included Chief Justice of India (‘CJI’) Surya Kant, Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Prathiba M. Singh, Attorney General R. Venkataramani, and Professor Rashmi Salpekar.
The occasion also saw the unveiling of the SCBA’s first-of-its-kind pilot survey, “Documenting Voices of Women Advocates in Delhi-NCR,” conducted among 301 women lawyers practising across courts and tribunals in the region. Senior Advocate Dr. Anindita Pujari presented the preliminary findings of the survey.
Majority women in litigation are first generation
A striking insight from the survey is that 84.1 percent of respondents identified as first-generation lawyers which indicated that most women enter the profession without the benefit of established legal networks. Their experiences in litigation reflected this structural disadvantage. 38.5 percent described their professional journey as “sometimes encouraging, sometimes discouraging,” while 25.2 percent found it encouraging and 17.6 percent said it became “more encouraging with each passing day.”
Only 11.3 percent characterised it as “very encouraging,” indicating that despite rising representation, the profession remains uneven terrain. When aggregated, 68 percent reported encountering discouragement at some point, a statistic Dr. Pujari called “a stark reminder of the structural and cultural hurdles that persist.”
A striking insight from the survey is that 84.1 percent of respondents identified as first-generation lawyers.
More than half say leadership opportunities unequal, a third report ‘definitely’ experiencing bias
Questions relating to leadership revealed continued gender disparity. Of the women who responded, 57.8 percent said opportunities for leadership roles in bar bodies were not equal for men and women, although 42.2 percent believed such opportunities did exist. Despite this gap, the ambition to lead remained strong, with 58.9 percent of respondents expressing willingness to take up positions in bar councils or bar associations, even as 30.4 percent said they would not and another 10.7 percent were still undecided.
Gender bias also emerged as a significant barrier. Among those surveyed, 33.1 percent said they had definitely experienced bias and 29.1 percent said they encountered it occasionally. 9.4 percent reported facing it frequently. Only 23.1 percent said they had not experienced it at all.
