From the year 2072 to 2082, 3 thousand 121 women have taken the advocate certificate.
What you should know
The number of women studying law and obtaining advocate certificates has increased. According to the data from 2072 to 2082, 3 thousand 121 women have taken the advocate certificate. During the same period, the number of men who took the certificate of advocate is 4 thousand 154.
Almost half of the students studying law in Nepal Law Campus, National Law Campus, and PN Campus in Pokhara are women. In some campuses, the number of women is even more than men. After studying law, women's involvement is also increasing in areas such as justice services, human rights, teachers, INGOs, NGOs, banks and administrative services.
According to the data of the Nepal Legal Practitioners Council, 28 women applied for the bar exam in 2051, of which 15 passed. In the same year, 339 men filled the form for the bar exam, while 164 passed. The percentage of female contestants passing that year was 53.57 and that of males was 48.38. For six years after that, the number of women taking the bar exam was in double digits, and in 2057, it increased to three digits. That year, 189 women took the bar exam and 199 became advocates. The number of men participating in the examination that year was 1,563, out of which 890 passed. In that year, the pass percentage of women was 57.67 and that of men was 56.94.
From 2060 to 2067, the number of female competitors in the bar exam was again limited to double digits. In 2060, 99 women took the bar exam and 73 passed. In 2066, 67 women took the exam and 51 passed.
After 2074, the number of women in the examination for advocates began to increase. This year, 444 women took the bar exam and 178 passed. In the same year, the number of male examinees was 1,072, out of which 382 passed.
747 women participated in the 28th examination for advocate held in 2077. That year, 1,317 men took the exam. Among those who succeeded in the examination, women were 39 percent i.e. 294 people while men were only 28 percent i.e. 379 people. In the 32nd examination held last year, 1,210 women took the exam and 479 passed. Of the 1,619 men who took the bar exam that year, 545 passed.
However, in advocacy practice, the involvement of women is relatively less than that of men. According to Rashtravimochan Timilsina, an advocate and assistant professor at the National Law Campus, the entry of women into government and non-government sectors such as studying law and other legal fields is increasing. "The participation of women advocates is very low compared to men," he says. Rosina Acharya Chhetri has topped the 32nd Advocate Level Examination. 7 out of 10 toppers in the said exam were women. According to Chhetri, although women are capable in every profession, society's views and behavior are different.
"Many still have the opinion that women cannot handle big cases," she says, "Even though women are capable, divorce, manachamal and other common cases are reduced, they don't believe in 'critical cases', that's why women are less visible in the advocacy field."
Senior advocate Savita Bhandari says that women have to struggle in the advocacy profession because of the discriminatory thinking of the clients rather than because of the men in this profession. "Clients act as if they are weak because they are women," she said, "Many women have left the profession of advocacy because they have to take care of their families."
The participation of women who have studied law has been good in the government sector. Vinu Gautam, branch officer of the Supreme Court, says that the participation of women in judicial services and government lawyers has increased. "Government sector is a little safer for women than the private sector and because the scheduled time is from 10 to 4 p.m., women's participation is increasing," she says.
The number of women and men who have studied law and are embracing the teaching profession along with advocacy is high. Advocate Anita Koirala, who also teaches, says that the interest of women in law is increasing every year. There is an environment that makes it look like more opportunities are given to women, but discourages them from moving forward. Women who are still not able to come to the advocacy field openly,' she says, 'Unless women-friendly policy and society's mindset changes, women's participation in the advocacy profession will not increase.' He says that if such a thing is removed from the society, the participation of women in the profession of lawyer will increase.
