New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS): Delhi High Court Justice Prathiba M. Singh has said that Vedic scriptures like Manusmriti have always given a very respectable position to women, adding that our ancestors knew very well how to respect them.

"Manusmriti itself says that if you don't respect and honour women, all the 'puja path' that you may do will have no meaning," she said during a speech at a conference titled 'Challenges faced by women in science, technology, entrepreneurship and mathematics' held on Wednesday.

The high court judge further said that we are lucky to be in a country like India which is progressive about women being in leadership roles.

"I am not saying we need to ignore the violence and the bad things that happen to women at a lower level, but yes, at the higher level, at the middle level, we are seeing women growing," she said.

Singh also said that there are women fora where regular interactions take place between senior and budding woman lawyers.

"We encourage youngsters to come into law and to do litigation. It is not about empowerment, it's about putting the best systems in place to make sure that the systems are women-friendly and flexible enough to allow women to come up and use their educational qualifications to contribute to the country's progress," she added.