Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor, known for being vocal about her thoughts, called out the patriarchal system standing in the way of many women in the film industry. At a recent entrepreneurship event for women organised by Indian Merchants’ Chamber’s (IMC) Ladies wing, Sonam spoke of how women live in an unfair world, constantly scrutinised for what they wear or say.
“Ours is a patriarchal society. For actress, sportswomen and even for women in media we have a lots of odd stacked against us where we are judged from the way we look to the way we speak to whether we are pregnant or not. We go through issues. We are seen as we are not capable or strong. Women are looked upon as they can’t do a lot of things and judged on it. It is very unfair,” The Indian Express quoted Sonam as saying.
While she pointed out the evident bias still existing, Sonam also spoke of how there’s hope for change. “If we help women, our society will get better. They are the foundation for a better India. Olympics was a great example. They would have done better had they got more support,” she said.
Unsurprisingly, Sonam’s statements on a patriarchal Bollywood isn’t the first time. In addition to speaking about equality and feminism, the actress has often called out trolls on the internet who ridicule the things she says on the subject or the clothes she wears. While she earlier admitted that she was indifferent to trolls and comments, her opinion on meat bans was widely ridiculed, prompting her tweet how she was ‘sad’ that women were at the forefront of sexism too.
And the saddest thing about this whole thing is.. That it’s mostly women who are calling me out on being bimbo. Guess it’s not only the men!
— Sonam Kapoor (@sonamakapoor) September 8, 2015
Her statements come soon after Kareena Kapoor voiced similar sentiments. As part of the Golmaal films directed by Rohit Shetty, Kareena was surprised when Shetty was hesitant to approach her for the film because of her pregnancy. “Those who have a role for me they will come to me. Pregnant or not. I don’t think there is anything wrong in that,” she said. The actress had earlier lashed out at the media for asking her about her ‘maternity break’. “I am pregnant, not a corpse. And what maternity break? It’s the most normal thing on earth to produce a child. It is high time the media back off, and stop treating me any different than I ever was,” she said then.