Gender Discrimination in Legal Profession: A Case Study of Punjab Province

Authors

  • Rais Nouman Ahmed
  • Muhammad Danyal Khan
  • Muhammad Asif Safdar

Keywords:

Discrimination, Gender, Lawyers, Legal Profession, Pakistan, Judiciary, Human Rights

Abstract

This paper attempts to examine the gender discrimination in legal profession. Gender discrimination points out towards the culture of unfairly treating a certain segment of society because of their sexual orientation. In a male dominated society, gender discrimination is associated with the concept of unequal treatment of female members. The United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and Constitution of Pakistan 1973 prohibits discrimination against women. Legal profession, being a part of judicial arrangement, ensures to protect the fundamental rights of citizens. Therefore, it is paramount that legal profession itself does not harbor discriminatory practices inside it. National Judicial Policies have focused to eliminate gender discrimination in legal fraternity. The paper however finds out that widespread gender discrimination do exist in legal profession. Despite the fact that rules framed under Legal Practitioners and Bar Council’s Act, 1973 that aim at eliminating discrimination for entry in profession, ratio of female advocates in profession is significantly lower. This study also finds that female members of the legal community face gender bias and harassment from inside their own community. This study investigates the capacity of both legal as well as administrative framework to deal with issue of gender discrimination among lawyers.

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Published

2021-09-30

How to Cite

Ahmed, R. N. ., Khan, M. D., & Safdar, M. A. . (2021). Gender Discrimination in Legal Profession: A Case Study of Punjab Province. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 39(3), 1009-1019. Retrieved from https://pjss.bzu.edu.pk/index.php/pjss/article/view/725