Delhi High Court judge Pratibha M. Singh on Wednesday said that the women of India are blessed and quoted the Hindu scripture Manusmriti for giving a very respectable position to them. While speaking at the conference titled ‘Facing the unseen barriers: Addressing Challenges faced by Women in Science, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Mathematics (STEM)’, she said:

I think we are a blessed lot of women in India and the reason for that is that our Scriptures have always given a very respectable position for women. As Manusmriti itself says that if you don’t respect women and honour them, all the ‘puja paath that you do has no meaning. I think our ancestors and the Vedic Scriptures knew very well how to respect women and how to take care of women and my experience whether in India or in foreign countries has told me that.

The Delhi High Court judge added:

When you speak to your counterparts in different countries of the world, at a very personal level, whether it is my classmates from Cambridge or very close professionals from different countries, I can tell you that in fact the Asian countries do much better in respecting women- in household, in workplaces, and in society in general. That is because of the cultural and religious background that we have, what our Scriptures tell us.

The conference was organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).

Terming India as more progressive than the West in terms of acknowledging women’s contribution, especially in the field of science, the Delhi High Court judge said:

I am very happy to say that India has recognised the contribution of women- for example, in the Mars mission, we all know that when the press conferences were held, we saw the large number of women engineers, women scientists, space engineers who were there on the stage, on the dias. So we are recognising them, it is happening. So I really think we are lucky to be in a country like India- India is actually much, much more progressive about women being in leadership roles.

Justice Singh further added:

I am not saying we need to ignore the violence and the bad things that happen to women at a lower level. But at the higher level and the middle level, we are seeing women grow. We need to have that and perceive that really well. My best friend is an American, in the US, practicing law, and now she has moved on to her own practice-she used to tell me when we were studying that it is almost impossible for a woman to dream to be a partner in a major Law Firm. That may be true even today. It has not changed. Any major Law Firm, if you find 50 men, you will find 2 women. The disparity is so big.

The Left-leaning female politicians have registered strong opposition against the statement of Justice Singh. Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPIM) politburo member Brinda Karat said:

Her statement only strengthens the retrogressive views of those who uphold the caste system and that women must accept subordination and control of men, fathers, husbands, sons.