Sexism in Bollywood
gender discrimination and unequal representation of women in Bollywood
Sexism in Bollywood refers to gender discrimination and stereotyping in the Hindi film industry, also known as Bollywood. This includes the portrayal of women in films and their roles in film making.
Representation
Early era (1920s–1960s)
Female roles for films during these times were often limited towards roles such as mothers, romantic interests, or the wife of the male lead. Rather than being an active character, their purpose was only for looks. The ones who did defy gender norms were depicted as mistresses, vamps, club-dancers, and had habits like smoking, drinking, or expressed their sexuality and sexual interest which were also highlighted by their clothing to distinguish "good" and “not-so-good” women.
Early Bollywood films in the 1920s were often also influenced by European films and Hollywood. Director Himanshu Rai used Eurasian women as substitutes as they had lighter skin to show an ideal look for Indian women. Actresses also promoted skin lightening products, further increasing colourism within female communities.
The 1950s enforced the beliefs that women were submissive, sacrificial, and morally upright in addition to being portrayed as duly servants towards their family or partner. A study showed male-coded pronouns were used more than female-coded pronouns during this period.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sexism in Bollywood” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.