‘Women must be heroines of their stories’

In a country where women are either deified or looked down upon as subservient individuals, but rarely as equals, a new Indian woman is emerging who will be sharing power in partnership with men.

It is on this positive note that actor-activist Shabana Azmi threw open a discussion on the presence of women in all spheres of life.

She was speaking at a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Zee TV on Monday. “We will have to accept that there will be no homogeneity in a vast country like ours and diverse groups will always have to struggle against stereotypes,” she said.

Eminent panelists, including activists, academicians and advertising professionals, debated on topics such as the representation of women in diverse fields such as politics and media.

Apurva Purohit, CEO of Radio City, said corporate India was waking up to the fact that diversity and inclusiveness is important. “The last decade was a decade of change and saw more and more women holding key positions across diverse fields. Women should be heroines of their stories, not victims,” she added.

The panelists agreed that a level playing field needs to be created not just for women but also for men. And men need to be sensitised to gender issues. “In advertising, when men write for women’s products they may not tell the right story or send across the right message,” said Lynn De Souza, chairman and CEO of Lintas Media Group. She was referring to the regressive and retrograde images that often make their way into ads.

Actor-director-activist Nandita Das felt that since mainstream cinema has to “please a lot of people” it sometimes oversimplifies the image of women or caters only to the male gaze. On the Women’s Reservation Bill, the panelists were divided.

“We can be cynical about reservation but in a country where the starkness of inequality is so vivid how else do we bring a diverse set of people at the table,” asked Menaka Guruswamy, advocate, Supreme Court.