High Court Judge Justice M.G. Uma speaks at Bar Association Women’s Day event

Mysore/Mysuru: “Succeeding as a female lawyer is not easy and there are many challenges facing women lawyers in a male-dominated workplace. They must be professional and women must learn to be independent and should gain knowledge to function independently,” said High Court Judge Justice M.G. (Makkimane Ganeshaiah) Uma.

She was speaking at the International Women’s Day celebrations organised by Mysore Bar Association, Mysuru District Women Advocates Forum and Law Guide journal at the Bar Association Conference Hall yesterday.

Women in male-dominated workplaces and career fields, especially, must support each other. That is the only way that women lawyers will advance to positions of leadership and management, she said. “Women in the legal profession have a larger role to play in society in combating social injustices and disparity. They must be confident with knowledge and competence so that they can inspire confidence in their clients too,” she said.

Senior women lawyers, who have experienced the challenges for women in the law, should mentor younger professionals and there is absolutely no place for jealousy and petty differences that can derail the advancement of women.

“When we started the legal profession, it was difficult and there was no one to guide us but still we managed to succeed. There are no such problems now and this does not mean that the present day women lawyers do not have any problems. It is not so. The nature of the problems has changed,” Justice Uma said.

“We are moving in the right direction towards gender parity and having a sort of equal number of male and female law graduates is a good start. But it is just the beginning. Achieving gender equality requires leadership in all parts of society and industry, from people like ourselves,” she added.

She called upon women lawyers to create a life balance that includes paying attention to personal needs and health — even while being an excellent lawyer. “The balance of work, self, home and family is particularly delicate in a demanding profession like law. The success is to achieve a workable balance where women have to draw lines to protect what is most important to                                           them,” she said.

High Court Judge Justice Maraluru Indrakumar Arun said that attitudes towards women in the legal industry have evolved significantly and discrimination, whether gender-related or otherwise, is generally not acceptable. “Women lawyers and judges are significantly recognised for their skills and legal acumen, and have even expanded into hitherto male-only practice domains,” he added.

At the event, women advocates who have completed 25 years of service were felicitated.

Even Justice Maraluru Indrakumar Arun and Justice Uma were honoured.

Professor of Maharaja’s College Dr. Vijayalakshmi, Principal District and Sessions Court Judge M.L. Raghunath and Mysuru Assistant Commissioner Kamalabai were present as guests. Mysore Bar Association President M. Mahadevaswamy, Vice-President Puttasiddegowda, Secretary S. Umesh, Joint Secretary G.M. Nagesh, Women’s Wing Joint Secretary B.S. Bhagyamma and others were present.