The International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8 March around the world. It is an important point in the movement for women’s rights. On this occasion, The Sunday Guardian spoke to some of Bollywood’s renowned singers Shilpa Rao, Jonita Gandhi, Payal Dev and Nikitaa who shared their views on women empowerment and their inspiration. Excerpts:
Q. What is the importance of Woman›s Day for you?
Jonita Gandhi: Women’s Day is an important reminder to all of us of how far we’ve come, but also how far we have yet to go.
Nikitaa: A day and even a month (since March is Women’s History Month) doesn’t feel like enough to celebrate, recognise and uplift women, especially women of colour, but it’s still so important. Any day that genuinely encourages people to celebrate the innate value of women is an important and necessary day.
Payal Dev: In many aspects, women are empowered and doing well in our country. As in my case, there are very few female music composers in our country and I am happy to say I am one of them. Unlike before when mediums were limited and there were fewer opportunities, things are different now and whoever does good work, it is praised, be it male or female.
Shilpa Rao: Well, the house that we grew up in, we had a very humanistic approach and centralised treatment towards genders. I mean, me and my brother were taught the same values, irrespective of our genders.
Q. What are your views on women empowerment?
Jonita Gandhi: A little goes a long way. We all need a little encouragement to believe in ourselves, and supporting one another can start at home. The ripple effect is more valuable than we know.
Nikitaa: The empowerment of women is a two-way street. A woman who feels empowered all on her own is a powerful force, but she also requires the opportunities and spaces that let her thrive, grow, and continue to feel empowered as well as help her fellow women. I look forward to a social, political, and economic system that enables the empowerment of women as opposed to making them fight for it.
Payal Dev: I’m glad that people are liking my work, some might not but creating music is not tough and comes very naturally to me. So the effort is to keep creating more and keep improving myself. So is a certain place for female composers in this industry too, but the main and the important thing is our work needs to be good, then it doesn’t matter whoever you are, you are a kid or you are an old or boy or girl. It doesn’t matter.
Shilpa Rao: It’s about the way you look up to your life. Gender is just one part of your personality or your existence. It’s not everything; you are way beyond your gender title, what actually matters is love and respect for each other as a human being. I would just keep saying that yes, there are things that need to be bettered in our society, obviously as there is no society that is perfect, there will be issues and we need to work hard to make it better. Standing up for our issues is very important and I know that probably you might lose things in the immediate present but it will really work out for greater good.
Q. Please tell the name of women you admire most.
Jonita Gandhi: My mom has been my greatest inspiration and biggest role model. She is the backbone of our family and we would all be completely lost without her!
Nikitaa: I think every woman I have ever met has inspired me in some way, and I genuinely mean that. The minute I learned to appreciate the women around me rather than compete with them, I found inspiration in each and every one of them.
Payal Dev: As a woman, we all are working and progressive but at the same time we are also homemakers and caretakers of our house and family, which make us all quite unique and one of our kind.
