Cherie Booth Blair, the wife of visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has praised India's progressive laws for women but said much remained to be done to reduce gender inequality.

Delivering the C.K. Daphtary memorial lecture on the theme "Women's rights are human rights" here Wednesday, Cherie touched on the progress made around the world in empowering women but highlighted the urgent need to bring about more enabling laws to uplift women.

Cherie, who has appeared in the European Court of Justice and became Queen's Counsel in 1995, welcomed the progressive judgements on women's rights by the judiciary in India and in her country, especially laws on rape and domestic violence.

Accompanying her husband to India for the India-EU Summit and talks with the Indian leadership, Cherie managed to fit the talk into her packed schedule.

India's Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti was the guest of honour at the lecture organised by the British Council, the Inns of Court (India) Society and the Association of British Scholars.

Cherie, who uses her maiden name in her capacity as a lawyer, focused on developments in the field of law around the world that had led to women's empowerment while pointing out that no country had totally bridged the gender gap.

"There can be no human rights without women's rights," said Cherie, who specialises in human rights, media and information law and employment, discrimination and public law.

A passionate advocate of human rights who did not shy away from speaking out against tough new terror laws in Britain proposed by Blair's Labour government in the wake of the July 7 terror attacks, she called for enabling laws to help women contribute in a positive manner to the society.

"Inequality and discrimination are damaging not only women but human potential," Cherie said, noting that investing in women would bring huge dividends to society.

She noted that negative social attitudes and gender stereotyping prevalent in several countries prevented women from gaining their rights and the means to realise their true potential.

Citing figures from the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index Report, launched in May, Cherie said the document showed that no country had managed to entirely eliminate the gender gap.

Called to the Bar at Lincoln's in 1976, she is actively involved in several charitable and public causes and is president of Barnardo's, Britain's largest children's charity, besides serving as patron of the Breast Cancer centre.