This International Women’s Day, let us talk about gender equality or equal rights.

To begin with, are men and women the same? NO! By the virtue of nature, we differ in physical strength, capabilities and emotional quotient.

Should this mean, we have or should have different rights? NO, irrespective of gender, every human on Earth should have equal rights.

A lot of women consider themselves to be lucky to be born in this era that sees women voting, running for office roles, being paid similar wages as men, holding professional positions that were once reserved only for men, and overall rights for women being considered.

Even as I agree, a lot of things have changed over the years in addressing gender equality, the society at large is still biased with it's opinion on gender roles.

For example, at least in some developing countries, a working woman is perceived as someone finding a source of fulfilment, whereas, a working man is looked upon as a responsible person who is working to provide for his family. His motives, attitude and behaviours are judged completely different from that of the opposite sex.

In a different scenario, If a working woman cannot stay back to tend a sick child, she is perceived as selfish and accused of making her work a bigger deal than necessary. However, it is perfectly ok for a man to do so in a similar situation without anyone expecting him to stay home and nurture his child.

The biased opinions are not restricted just within a marriage, but also extends to separation, divorce etc. Society seems to label a woman as intolerant quickly, whereas, a man divorces simply because he got unlucky with a wrong woman in his life! Further, a women's morality is questionable if she remarries, whereas, a man is in his rights to have a companion for life.

Every woman has either seen or encountered inequality at some point in her life. Now is the time to think, what we as women could do to ensure gender equality within our own family, friends, workplace and society.

I have promised myself to not discriminate against any woman or man simply based on their gender. I have promised to raise my girls instilling a sense of gender equality in them.

I would love to know from everyone reading this, what have you done or will do to raise this awareness and bring gender equality in your community.

Having posed a few questions to the artists and models that we have worked with, here is what they have to say:

Having said that, the onscreen industry works differently. It is a known fact that the remunerations that is proposed to the female actors is very less in comparison to the male actors performing a similar role. In my first film, we were all new comers and I wasn’t expecting a huge remuneration but I know that the male actors were paid more than me though we all had equal importance in the script of the film. In the current film that I am working on, I am the only lead actor and I know that the remunerations will vastly vary if the script was based on a single male lead as supposed to a single female lead. This trend is seen not just in Tamil or Indian films but even in the West. Female leads are not boycotting films if they are not paid equally and it is amazing to see the Male actors standing up for their women counterparts.

I am yet to address this because I personally believe that I am being paid well for my time considering the experience I have within this industry, but I hope that like in the west, we have men and women standing up for gender equality within the Tamil film industry as well.

I hope to inculcate the same in my daughter where she's not taught what's lady-like but rather models herself to believe in right to equal opportunity, equal pay and equal consequences. Complimenting her intelligence as much as her beauty, disciplining without undercurrents of sexism, valuing conversations even if you agree to disagree are some of the cornerstones that I'd like to keep up.