Sushmita Sen says she never had the same privileges as a male actor, had to fight for ‘many levels of acceptance’

Sushmita Sen won Miss Universe in 1994, and even now, the actor has a massive fan following. The success of her web series Aarya is a testament to the same. In a recent chat with a young interviewer from her daughter’s school, Sushmita was asked about the hardships she has faced in her life and career because she is a woman.
The actor said that she still faces hardships, and has been facing them all her life. “Yes, of course, I did. At times I still do. I’m 46 years old, but that’s just my age. What matters is the age of the society we live in. And our mindset is thousands of years old. So that’s very difficult to change overnight. But the problem that I faced in the past was as an actor, or as a mother. I was a single woman who wanted to adopt rather than give birth. This was my choice. But I had to really fight the Indian courts and society to get the right to adopt my two girls, Renee and Alisah. That, unfortunately, was just because I’m a woman. They thought I would not be able to manage,” said Sushmita.

Talking about her career, Sushmita Sen said that the glaring dinction between a male actor and a female actor was evident as she was not given the same privileges, and the same opportunities as her male peers. She said, “As an actor, they would not allow me the same privileges as a male actor or the same opportunities. So yes, I’ve had to fight as a woman for many levels of acceptance. How do I deal with it? Well, I’m older now, so I do have experience and a reputation which has taken me years to build.”
Sushmita also spoke about how women are typecast into certain roles in the society. “The gender inequality and the difficulties that are born from being, for the lack of another word, typecast as a woman carries too many disparities in it. With experience and withstanding your ground, you are slowly changing the world one day at a time,” she said.

Sushmita Sen shared the interview on her Instagram handle. A part of her caption read, “My hats off to their research, line of questioning & just the depth of their desire to learn! I spoke my heart out of course …and then followed the tedious process of transcripts! They braved that too!! I love the poem Adam Attari…how magically he writes!!”