#ChooseToChallenge: The stereotypes and inequalities these celebs want to end

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day (March 8) is ‘choose to challenge’, with women across the globe calling out biases and stereotypes, sharing the problems they face. “Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day. We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality,” the campaign stated. Women in showbiz share what they want to challenge to have an equal world.

I would want to challenge the stereotype that I’ve often seen, even in my own family. Some families believe daughters have no right to ancestral property, or should not be claiming their right on it, without knowing the law on it. We are three sisters and have been brought up in a joint family with a conservative background. From our extended families, we’ve heard things like “you are daughters and you will get married, you do not have any right on ancestral property,” though my father has stood by us and been vocal about our rights. I want to challenge this and bring a change in this thought process. A son and a daughter have equal rights.

A stereotype I would like to challenge is of the girl leaving her house after getting married. Why should a girl leave her house post her wedding and go to her marital house or sasural, as we say it? Why can’t a man leave his home and come over to his wife’s? Nowadays, the world is evolving, and women are also earning. They are capable enough, so it should be normalised when a man leaves his home and comes to his wife’s house, and society should accept it when this happens.

— Input by Riya Sharma

I hope that certain stereotypes we women face are broken, such as some women who are on the healthier side are constantly told that they don’t look good in certain clothes and that these are not suitable for their body type. I feel it’s a totally unfair statement and people who think like this should change their thought process. I know so many amazing women who are healthy or on the heavier side, but carry off their outfits beautifully, with a great sense of style. They look very graceful in the way they present themselves. I can proudly say that these ladies are true divas and have stunning personalities, and should not allow themselves to be subjected to such baseless stereotypes.

I want to challenge pseudo feminism. Yes, I stand up for women, and I understand that women have to fight harder for the kind of freedom they deserve. I am all for women but I’m all for men too. It’s about time we fight for equality and practice what we preach. You cannot talk about feminism if you are fighting for ladies first in a queue.

The one stereotype I would like to challenge is being categorised as per one’s age. I wish I could stop people from being ageist. (Younger) people should realise that they, too, will get there at some point of time. When we were in our 20s, we used to look up to all these women of age and experience, they used to be our idols. Now, the trend seems to have changed, young ones are becoming very ageist. I often hear things like ‘oh my god she looks like an amma, she is my mother’s age.’ I want to ask them, so what? I have faced a few comments where people have said, ‘Oh aren’t you ashamed, what are your two sons going to think when they are going to see you in a bikini or swimsuit, have some shame? You are a mother of two kids.’ I want to ask them so what? I want to challenge all 40-year-old men going to a swimming pool wearing full clothes, even we don’t want to see your paunch.

It’s high time we addressed pay parity in every field of work. Since years, women have been working equally hard – sometimes harder and more efficiently than their male counterparts – but even then, they get paid less. I know of examples where women have been working at a particular organisation for years and have a lot of experience. When they were up for a promotion, her male colleagues, who had comparatively less experience, got a promotion and was paid more. This has been there for a really long time and it is not changing as much and as fast as it should. I would really like this to change. Pay parity has been a point of discussion in all industries. In Hollywood, so many women came together to talk about this, and it is very essential, to collectively address it to ensure that women are treated equally in all walks of life.