ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2026, the All-India Lawyers' Association for Justice (‘AILAJ’) published a statement titled ‘Taking Gender Justice in the Legal Profession Seriously’. The statement presented the abysmal picture of women’s standing in the Indian legal profession by drawing on official data from the Supreme Court and from Bar Councils across fifteen states. It argues that improvement will require structural change.
The statement arrives at a moment of apparent optimism. Justice B.V. Nagarathna is ever-closer to becoming the first female Chief Justice of India; more women are enrolling in law programmes than at any previous point in the country's history; and the language of gender equality is frequently invoked in bar association speeches and judicial decisions. And yet, the numbers tell a different story.
