SCBA Survey Lifts Lid on Gender Bias: Most Women Lawyers Report Hardship, Unequal Leadership Space

A recent survey conducted by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has offered a data-driven look into the professional experiences of women lawyers in India, revealing wide ranging concerns about gender bias, leadership exclusion, career disruption due to marriage and motherhood and systemic gaps in institutional support.

The findings were presented at the SCBA event titled “We Women Empowerment in Law: A Panel Discussion on Strength, Struggle and Success,” and together paint a picture of a profession where women continue to navigate challenges uniquely shaped by gendered expectations both inside and outside courtrooms.

A significant feature of the dataset lies in its demographic foundation; Out of 301 women who responded to the survey, an overwhelming 84.1 percent identified as first-generation lawyers.

This is a notable marker of how many women in the profession do not come from established legal families and therefore often enter the system without the inherited networks, mentorship or resource advantages that second-generation lawyers may have.

The early professional journey appears to be shaped heavily by these structural realities.

When asked about their experience in the profession, 38.5 percent of answering lawyers described it as discouraging, while only 25.2 percent called it encouraging and 17.6 percent said it improved with each passing day.

The small percentage of respondents who labelled their experience as “very encouraging” reflects how welcoming the profession still feels for women overall.

Leadership is another theme where gender disparity emerges clearly; Of the 296 responses recorded, 57.8 percent of women stated that they do not believe equal opportunity exists for women to hold leadership roles within Bar associations, while only 42.2 percent believed opportunities were equal.

Even though leadership participation is aspirational for many, the lack of equal space has kept women from entering decision-making arenas that shape the profession’s culture.

Yet in a different question answered by 299 respondents, 58.9 percent said they would consider taking up leadership posts in Bar councils and associations, suggesting that women are not hesitant about leading but are limited by institutional and cultural barriers.

One of the strongest indicators of gendered disadvantage came from answers on gender bias; Of the 299 women who responded, 33.1 percent said they had experienced bias directly, and 29.1 percent reported experiencing it occasionally, while 9.4 percent said they faced it frequently. Only 23.1 percent reported they had never encountered bias in their professional journey.

Notably, when comparing experiences of first-generation and others, 39.6 percent of first-generation women reported experiencing occasional bias, compared to 35.1 percent among non-first-generation respondents, again showing how lack of networks interacts with gender to compound the barriers.

The impact of personal milestones such as marriage and childbirth featured prominently in the survey; Out of 249 respondents, 38.2 percent said they faced hardship in continuing their work after marriage. Decisions regarding motherhood posed similar constraints: 33.5 percent of 236 women reported hardship when deciding to have a child.

The period after childbirth proved the most challenging, with 56.8 percent reporting major hardship and 31.3 percent of 230 respondents saying they faced difficulty securing deferment of cases during that time.

These figures underscore how the profession continues to operate with an assumption of uninterrupted physical presence, overlooking the caregiving responsibilities disproportionately borne by women.

Institutional support for caregiving was uneven. While 52.4 percent of 231 respondents said they received support, 47.6 percent said they did not. An overwhelming majority, 95.4 percent of the 283 respondents, supported initiatives such as maternity leave policies, creche facilities and flexible working hours, reflecting a strong expectation that legal institutions must evolve to accommodate the realities of women in the profession.

On broader challenges, work–life balance emerged as the most prominent, cited by 34.2 percent of women; This was followed by lack of job opportunities at 16.4 percent, pay disparity at 14 percent and inadequate mentorship at 13.7 percent.

Sexual harassment at the workplace was reported by 6.2 percent, while concerns like mental health, inadequate training in court craft or drafting, and limited access to research platforms made up the remainder.

Despite the hurdles, the survey found that women continue to imagine an aspirational future within and outside litigation. When asked about transitioning from practice to the judiciary, 43.1 percent said yes, while 31.2 percent said no and 25.8 percent were still considering the option. In another question, 64.1 percent of 295 respondents said they would advise their daughters or girls in their close circle to pursue law, showing that women despite facing systemic barriers still see the profession as meaningful and worth entering.

The data on preferred career streams further reflects how women weigh stability, opportunity and personal aspirations. Out of 288 responses, corporate roles topped the preference list at 39.6 percent, followed by litigation at 36.1 percent, judiciary at 13.5 percent and academics at 10.8 percent.

When the data was divided on the basis of generation, first-generation women marked litigation at 34.9 percent, judiciary at 36.9 percent, academy at 9 percent and corporate at 18.4 percent, whereas second-generation respondents marked litigation at 29.4 percent, judiciary at 39.2 percent, academy at 15.7 percent and corporate at 9.8 percent.

Across the board, the survey makes one trend unmistakably clear: women lawyers continue to push against cultural, structural and institutional constraints that make their professional journeys significantly more challenging than those of their male counterparts.

The persistence of gender bias, the disproportionate impact of marriage and motherhood, the struggle for leadership representation and the quest for supportive institutional policies illustrate how much ground still needs to be covered for women to experience equal footing in the legal profession.