Breaking the Glass Ceiling in the open

                       

 (#WeTheFuture @PenguinAnnualLecture @priyankachopra @UNICEFGoodwill Ambassador)           

She has no airs about herself, (one wouldn’t want to call it a publicity stunt). For what one gets to see and observe of Bollywood, most actors are busy looking important and special. For one, maybe, the constant attention from the crowd and media makes them so. It isn’t easy to remain immune and unaffected to so much importance that you are made to feel like demi-god.

But the recently appointed @UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador was very unassuming. Priyanka Chopra arrived (though the event started almost after an hour), she had a crisp well prepared lecture ready on ‘how to be Priyanka’. Someone would feel this is all hoity-toity but if you got down to the substance of the 12 point scheme she shared about how to ‘break the glass ceiling’ and discovering your unique self, you will be grateful to the international star that Priyanka Chopra is today. I could see why she has become an inspiration to the youthful India and is fast arriving at the point of being an epitome of professionalism (what the West is known for).

I don’t know why we are not able to get this kind of standard of seriousness in our Indian entertainment industry? If we could, we would be inspiring our society with some serious messages, for which Art and Entertainment once stood for.

Times are scary; youth is hardly absorbing anything of substance. The social media has become a big influencer; so much so that many youth are adversely influenced by what others are saying about ‘anything and everything anyone is doing in life’. Statements are hurting everyone’s self esteem greatly. And Priyanka was clear when she said, “don’t let those who write aimlessly on the social media influence your actions. They shouldn’t be taken seriously.”

‘Breaking the Glass Ceiling’- Chasing the Dream, was an interesting talk by PC over what standards should women set for themselves.  The media has been making statements like ‘#Priyanka Chopra Spoke Eloquently On #Women #Rights, But #Failed To Break The #Glass #Ceiling’, ‘Why there's outrage over Priyanka Chopra delivering Penguin's annual lecture?’ and more like this. Obviously, they were expecting something else from her all together.

Chopra referred to the Oxford Dictionary and defined the Glass Ceiling, is ‘invisible but a real barrier through which the next stage or level of advancement can be seen, but cannot be reached by a section of qualified and deserving employees. Such barriers exist due to implicit prejudice on the basis of age, ethnicity, political or religious affiliation, and/or sex.’

I loved the way PC took on to #Sonia #Singh of #NDTV for talking irrelevantly about Padmavati and why women are not being paid more than men, or as to when does PC want to settle into marriage, or if the big zeroes in her salary really mean anything to her, the list of the stereotypical questions can go on. Priyanka went all out (with the crowd cheering at her fearless rebuttles) to make it clear that the fact that pay in Bollywood is sexist, is precisely where the glass ceiling lies; and all the other stereotypical questions were bringing out just one thing ‘You are a woman; you have to be answerable; you have to be cornered and so it goes on….’

There was too much of positivity for an entertainer like her to stand out for; maybe the media was not looking for this but something more meaty to make the headlines. This done or not, she definitely made a point to get across to all those people sitting and listening to her in silence about dreams, will to dream, individuality, self respect and existence as a woman!