Improving Women’s Access to Free Legal Aid

Are Female Community Paralegals a Force to Reckon With?

Abstract

Free legal aid mechanism in the country is marred by several issues such as the poor implementation of laws, sub-optimal financial management, poor legal services provided by legal aid lawyers, lack of proper training of human resources, etc. These issues adversely affect access to legal aid for the poor, weak, and marginalized and ultimately hinder their access to justice. Women are particularly disadvantaged in this regard due to the additional and unique socio-cultural and psychological barriers they encounter on the road to justice. This paper explores the role of female community paralegals in the legal empowerment of women. This is done specifically in the Indian context; however, lessons are also drawn from other patriarchal societies where women are similarly marginalized due to gender-discriminatory norms. It studies barriers that hinder a woman’s access to justice in the specific context of violence and harassment of women belonging to low-income households. Further, this paper positions female community paralegals as playing a key role in enhancing women’s access to justice under the theoretical underpinning of legal empowerment. It proffers that the legal aid machinery needs to tap into the potential of female community paralegals and enhance their abilities to become active agents of social change. It aims to establish a strong case in favour of increasing the number of female community paralegals in the country, to make them more visible and accessible to women in distress. It emphasizes that empirical research must be carried out to survey the local population and determine the appropriate number, distribution, and diversity of female paralegals required.