Women have broken barriers of gender discrimination: SC judge

New Delhi: Lauding women for succeeding in the field of law, Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai on Friday said more women have joined the fraternity and have broken the barriers of gender discrimination.

Speaking at the inaugural function of Women in Law and Litigation (WILL), Desai, who was the chief guest, appreciated the initiative saying it is a great concept to encourage women to choose the legal profession and achieve excellence.

"A lot more women have joined the fraternity and have broken the barriers of gender discrimination," she said, adding that WILL was a platform to build up the confidence of women and address problems they face in this profession.

"Women can do well in all branches of law, not just maintenance and custody cases, but can also handle the corporate law and Intellectual Property Right matters," she said.

Discussing the sensitive issue of gender discrimination in the country, the judge shared her journey saying that she too faced hurdles in achieving her dream.

"I faced opposition at home about joining the legal profession but I remained determined and entered the male- dominated career," she said, while concluding that "being a litigation lawyer is a beautiful thing."

Expressing similar views, Delhi High Court Chief Justice G Rohini said that WILL was a joint effort by senior and junior women judicial officers and students to learn from each other's experiences and suggestions to achieve excellence in the field of law.

"WILL is a first of its kind initiative that will promote women litigants and enhance their role in the profession. It is a platform to share and learn from experiences of senior judiciaries and innovative ideas of young professionals and achieve excellence," the Chief Justice said.

Terming the initiative as an effort to help women law professionals emerge out strong, high court judge Hima Kohli, patron of WILL, said, "Legal profession is demanding and can burden women with expectations. This initiative will help them in becoming successful."

Speaking at the event, which was attended by hundreds of women law professionals, senior advocate Pratibha M Singh mentioned that Delhi has the maximum number of women judges compared to the rest of the country.

Besides the high court judge, the initiative is supported by senior advocates Maninder Acharya and Maneesha Dhir among others.