Powerful women can change a lot of things for a household: Madhavan

Conversations around gender equality is something which has been going on for some time, but it is still relevant, even more so as society continues to evolve. Actor R Madhavan feels that to usher in a change in mindset, men need to get on board with the discussion more actively.

“I think the most important thing is to get rid of our conditioning, even if you don’t do anything actively. But you can’t blame the men as well because they have been brought up and raised with this conditioning where a girl’s as well as a boy’s job is defined,” Madhavan said during an interview.

“At that time, that was how the household was supposed to be, and people didn’t think anything was wrong with that, and it was called a functional family. But then, there were things which were not right for the women,” he added.

Madhavan, who was last seen in the web series Decoupled, asserts that powerful women can change a lot of things for a household. And he cites his own family as an example.

“In my whole house, we have very powerful women, including my mother, my grandmother, they were all matriarchs, and the men were very happy letting them do what they wanted to do. And they were happy about one taking care of them when they needed to be taken care of,” said the actor.

The 51-year old said that men need to understand a simple rule that however difficult it is for them to accept it, physically and mentally, women are much stronger as they grow older.

“If you look at most of the household, you will realise that your grandmother is the one who is the last one left standing compared to grandfather, and it is such a common thing in most houses. So, it will work well for men if they are able to invest in their future by being understanding to the ladies in their house,” said Madhavan.