At a recent panel discussion titled ‘Ladkiya Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hai‘ (Girls Can Do Anything), filmmaker Zoya Akhtar spoke up about sexism, and the fact that women are called bossy when they are made in charge of something, while a man isn’t judged for the same thing.
“When we talk of sexism, you’re always judged if you’re a woman and you’re in control. In the sense, ‘she is rambling, she is bossy’. I am not bossy, I am the boss. It’s as simple as that, I don’t want to do anything else, this is it. So you always get ‘oh he’s really good at his job, he knows what he wants’ and ‘she is bossy.’ After a point, you create a rapport with people and you just laugh it off. But it’s there,” she said.
The Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara director further shed light on how some male directors tend to ill treat their colleagues but is never called out for their actions. “I know male directors who hit their assistants, make them kneel down, punish them, be completely mental. The difference is the way people look at it. I’ve been told to be a guy on sets. I asked what does that mean, they said that means you know what you want. It’s that kind of sexism,” she said.
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Speaking about her encounter with sexism, Zoya talked about how she and her brother were always treated equally, hence sexism worries her. “I don’t remember a day when I felt different from my brother because I was a girl. We are a year apart, and we were treated the same. My first brush with sexism was when I went to college. My friend was not allowed to go out at night, even though her brother was with her, because she was a girl. It shocked me. I couldn’t understand it.”
The panel discussion was chaired and created by actor-footballer Rahul Bose for Poorna, Bose’s film on Poorna Malavath, the youngest girl to climb Mount Everest at the age of 13. Other panelist members included journalist Barkha Dutt and Olympic medalist Sakshi Malik.
Watch the full discussion here:
Pic: The Indian Express