Surveen Chawla: Discrimination because of gender is everywhere, come together as a community to being a change

Actor Surveen Chawla feels gender bias still exists in the industry, but just one person can’t hold the banner for change and walk the path alone. Instead, she calls for more unity and conversation to change the tides. “We as a community need to come together,” he says.

“The biggest change [that has happened] when it comes to pay disparity and gender equality is that we are talking about it,” Chawla tells us, adding that the first step is to acknowledge what’s happening.

She continues, “Till now, that was missing. People didn’t have the courage to come forward and talk about it, and people didn’t have the option to use a platform to voice out their opinions, and throw light on what is happening.”

The Sacred Games and Decoupled actor feels that it takes a lot of courage to come forward and address the issue, that’s why she has immense respect for the ongoing dialogue.

“There have been a few instances, and it’s sad that it has happened, but there have been some violation of that right and liberty. It is important to discuss it. We have seen a certain amount of change, but we are far away from being an evolved society,” adds Chawla.

Here, she acknowledges that gender based discrimination is not just a problem in India, but all around the world. “Pay disparity is everywhere. Discrimination over gender is everywhere. And the least one can do is support the discussion and then propel the movement of change in conditioning,” says the 37-year-old.

She believes there is no point holding a big banner and riding a horse, announcing, ‘I’m going to bring the change’.

“It’s not going to happen that way. It is going to be a very slow, steady progressive change. In the industry, it will happen on one set, then another and so on,” she ends.