When Ekta Kapoor faced sexism

Brut India

"I was in shock.” Ekta Kapoor shared anecdotes about facing sexism and talked about how women continue to deal with it in various workplaces. She was speaking at FICCI Frames 2024, with Brut as the cultural partner. #FICCIFrames

Transcript

00:00Me and my mom started the company

00:01People said, why aren't you using your dad's name?

00:03He is the big name

00:05You both are the flunkies on the side

00:07Recently this happened

00:09I went for a meeting

00:10There were lots of men in the room

00:12And in five minutes

00:15They had made a circle of people standing

00:18And for almost five minutes, I was standing alone

00:22A few minutes later, a few women were there

00:24And I was supposed to go and stand with them

00:25I might be going against the tide and saying this

00:31But a lot of women wait for their husbands to buy

00:33Their tickets in the theater

00:35The choice of movies

00:38That's where I was actually going at

00:40Because you know what happens

00:41You see TV, streaming

00:43These are platforms

00:45And they're great

00:46But when you talk about a really like a high-end

00:52High big budget

00:53Hundred crore film

00:55And you say, okay, Deepika is there or Alia is there

00:58Definitely the film because they're led by these women

01:01But when you start talking about slightly radical topics about women

01:06On film and extremely conservative mediums like television

01:10There's still resistance

01:11I'd like to point out something

01:13I personally, I'm a firm believer that in the last 30 years

01:17From the time I came and people were calling me lady producer

01:20There's a huge change

01:23I mean, no one really knew how can a producer be a woman

01:27And me and my mom started the company

01:29People said, why don't you use your dad's name?

01:31He is the big name

01:33You both are the flunkies on the side

01:36And from there, it's changed a lot

01:38But just recently this happened

01:40I went for a meeting

01:42And I went with a friend of mine who's another producer

01:45He's a boy

01:46And it was a lot of executives

01:49And there were lots of men in the room

01:52And in five minutes, they had made a circle of people standing

01:58And for almost five minutes, I was standing alone

02:02And I was in shock

02:04Because I was like, okay, this is funny

02:07Why is this happening?

02:08And then a few minutes later, a few women were there

02:11And I was supposed to go and stand with them

02:13And I was in a bit of a shock

02:15And this was like this high-end top brass executive meeting

02:20And I turned around and I told my friend

02:21I said, does this happen often?

02:23And he said, I don't know

02:25I really made it a point after that to ask a lot of women

02:28Working in a few organizations around there

02:32And they said, we are in a room

02:35And normally someone will turn around and say

02:38Okay, when these girls leave, we'll crack that joke

02:41And I felt so like upset

02:44Not because of anything else

02:45But because if it can happen to me

02:48At where I stand, which I feel is a bit

02:52I've so-called reached somewhere

02:54How tough it must be for women to feel included

02:59And therefore, I feel we still are a long way

03:02Because the mindset in so many organizations still hasn't changed

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