Dia speaks about facing casual sexism

Mumbai: Actress Dia Mirza, one of the most popular names in the industry, recently in an interview spoke about about her initial days in cinema, and how ‘casual sexism’ was prevalent on the sets of Bollywood films.

In an interview with media, the actress shared that back then women in cinema hardly had privacy, even to change clothes, and also added that access to toilet facilities too were rare.“When we would go to locations to shoot songs, a basic thing like a toilet wouldn’t be available,” she said.

Dia Mirza also added that on such occasions, women used to go behind trees, or rocks, and three people would shield them with large sheets. She also spoke about how there weren’t even space to change clothes.

“There would be differences in how we were treated, in the amenities that were available to us. Our vanity vans would be smaller. When we would go to locations to shoot songs, a basic thing like a toilet wouldn’t be available. Basically, we lacked access to privacy, access to basic hygiene,” the Made in Heaven 2 actress said.
She also spoke about the treatment on the sets too were biased and revealed that if a male actor arrives late on the sets, no questions are asked, but if the delay is from the part of a woman, she would be tagged ‘unprofessional’.