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Synopsis

The Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has highlighted the need for changing our mindsets, as a step towards protecting the interests of women.

"There is no dearth of substantive and procedural legal provisions targeted towards protecting the interests of women in private and public situations. But good laws alone do not make for a just society. Above all we need to change our mindsets", the CJI said in his keynote address at the She Shakti event organized by News18.

Justice Chandrachud added that mindsets must move from making concessions for women to recognizing their entitlement to lead lives based on freedom and equality. We must zealously guard against apparently protective laws infringing women’s liberties and choices, he added.

The CJI further stated that laws themselves are not empowering. "They are a step in the direction of social change. The change lies in a more deliberate, long-drawn, and persistent process led by the people who constitute these institutions", he added.

On not meeting the pre-independence hopes about women’s economic participation, Justice Chandrachud explained that part of the reason is the continued gendered allocation of domestic labour.

"Even as women are entering the workforce, they are never divorced from the domestic realm. They must simultaneously juggle domestic and care-giving chores. They are doubly burdened - almost as a penalty for transgressing the domestic threshold. Besides domestic work being unaccounted for in economic terms, it obstructs women’s ability to hold on to paid work or take on greater professional responsibility", he said.

In conclusion, the CJI said the foremost inquiry a just institution should make is are our systems and structures conducive to inclusivity and are women supported in making unconventional choices that may not be socially sanctioned.