Discussing India’s Harvey Weinsteins at ‘We The Women’

Panelists talk about the equation between power and sex in sexual harassment.

Harish Iyer, Tisca Chopra and Mrunalini Deshmukh at the We the Women summit.

(Photo courtesy: Facebook)

Harish Iyer, Poonam Muttreja, Tisca Chopra and Mrunalini Deshmukh joined Barkha Dutt at the We The Women summit on Sunday evening to talk about sexual harassment at workplace and sexual abuse at homes in a session titled ‘India’s Harvey Weinsteins’.

While actor Tisca Chopra spoke about being propositioned by a noted film producer early on in her career, activist Harish Iyer spoke about his struggle to communicate to his family about the sexual abuse he was being subjected to as a child.

“I think a lot of women don’t speak about it because they are very young, very nervous, very anxious and they think they will be cut off from the industry, from the business. It only when they have acquired a degree of success, fame and a voice that they start speaking about it.”

Tisca Chopra

Poonam Muttreja of Population Foundation of India (PFI) was positive about the change that was happening in society with women choosing to speak up about their harassment publicly.

“Till a few years back there was a culture of silence in even reporting and acknowledging because of what society is. It’s a patriarchal society, it’s a society where women were expected to keep quiet and women have kept quiet for centuries. But now we’ve started talking about it, people have started reporting cases, and it is going to increase.”

Poonam Muttreja

“Women should have the space to say “No” without the fear of repercussion.” 

Barkha Dutt

Watch the full session on ‘India’s Harvey Weinsteins’ below: