Going beyond reclaiming space

Women reclaiming space is a powerful movement that’s gaining impetus globally.

- Santosh Kumar Mohapatra

In a powerful and inspiring speech recently at the release of a book titled “Women Laws from the Womb to the Tomb: Rights and Remedies,” Justice Nagarathna challenged the belief that women are entering male-dominated spaces, stating instead that they are reclaiming spaces from which they were unfairly excluded for generations due to misogynistic norms and patriarchal discrimination.

She emphasised that women’s growing presence in law, governance, and corporate sectors should not be seen as an intrusion. Every woman stepping into a courtroom, legislature or boardroom today isn’t expanding her boundaries, rather she is reclaiming her fair share of this nation’s intellectual and institutional legacy. Supreme Court judge Justice KV Viswanathan, who also spoke at the event, said the presence of women in erstwhile male bastions conferred enormous benefit on humanity as a whole.