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Speaking on the topic of “Gender Justice & Women’s Rights for a Sustainable Tomorrow” at ILI recently, Justice Indira Banerjee recollected how her mother motivated to have a career of her own.

She said, "I would like to share I have been motivated by my mother.” She further spoke of how despite wanting to do something in life, her mother was married off early.

Justice Banerjee recollected, "It was my mother who always encouraged me to have a career, she infused into me from the very inception, the concept of absolute equality.”

She also spoke of how a girl child is perceived as a temporary member of a family and said, “When I was born my sister who was 10 years older than me was very excited, my mother started laughing. A relative not even from the immediate family remarked “Save for the dowry, 3rd daughter.”"

Justice Banerjee is the 8th woman judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court in 2018. On this she remarked, "It took 68 years for this country to appoint the 8th woman judge at the Supreme Court. How many men have been appointed in the meanwhile?”

She further recollected how she was the only woman judge in Calcutta High Court amidst 39 male judges for 4 years.

Early days as a lawyer

Recollecting from her student days and initial days at the Bar she said, “All my life I drove my own car, till I became a judge. I could not afford a driver.” She further recollected that during her student days she would teach spoken English at a few institutions to manage her finances, and shared, “While doing law, I taught at a primary school and some institutions and earned an income which kept me going. It’s an expensive profession.”

Equity, equality and empowerment

Justice Banerjee said, "Equity means fair treatment, equality means absence of discrimination. What you need is affirmative action. We need substantive equality. For this we need to change the roles attributed to the women.”

On parenting she said, “I have tremendous respect for women who are home makers, my mother was one. Just as a woman has rights, a child also has rights. When you decide to have a child, you certainly have a responsibility. But it’s a joint responsibility of both the parents.”

On empowerment she expressed, "Empowerment in my view means infusing power into a woman to decide her own life within the parameters of law. She could choose to work, she could choose to be a home maker but it should be her choice.”

Sustainable development

On sustainable development Justice Banerjee said, “When we talk about sustainable development, we speak of ecology, economy and human development. Women constitute 50% of the world, human resources are under-utilised because the talent and ability of these women have not been utilised.”

She recollected how Swami Vivekananda often lamented on why Indian women were being treated so badly. She said, "He was impressed with women abroad as they were educated, they worked, they contributed to the society and they supported charities.”

A woman is a not a sex object

Calling for people to "PLEASE CHANGE THE MINDSET of stereotyping women", she said, "Respect the woman, don't treat the woman as a sex object, don't perpetrate crime against them, don't discriminate against women at home.”

She added that, “A woman is not a sex object on whom you pounce on a lonely road. Being sensitive to the feelings is very important.”

She recollected an incident from her early career which made her feel uncomfortable and said “We joined the Court, we were looking for a senior. His friend sitting there said “What is this? These fair and lovelies are all after you. Think of a young junior who very shyly goes to talk to someone and these comments are made.”

“Welcome the woman”

Asking people to “Welcome the woman, mentor the woman," she said due to  "biological differences, there maybe some difficult days for women and it's natural," and while she was against reservation for women in general, she felt as women occupy higher positions in the society, they will encourage more women to do the same.

Justice Banerjee said in this regard, "There are many disparities, at least it should not be on the ground of sex. Women should not have this in their mind that it is an alternative. For a man what would it be, so why should a woman move out and say it’s getting difficult?”

In conclusion Justice Banerjee noted that if a woman were to choose to become a home maker, it is her choice, but she should not be forced into leaving her profession, she should stay put.