Nicole Kidman in conversation with NDTV's Sreenivasan Jain
Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman, who is currently in New Delhi, spoke to NDTV's Sreenivasan Jain. In an exclusive conversation, the Oscar-winning actress said there were fewer 'women-centric roles' in Hollywood and that the gender wage gap that existed in the industry was 'not right.'
"It's very hard to get films made these days. There are many different formats for story-telling. The stories which center around women are fewer. The statistics are remarkable how many roles there are for men compared to women," said Nicole, star of films like Grace Of Monaco, Moulin Rouge! and Eyes Wide Shut.
Asked about the mini-revolution in Hollywood where women were taking on the question of gender pay disparity, Nicole said, "I started working when I was 14. I don't think things are so bad now. We have all had extraordinary opportunities. But I just think it's about the desire to make more opportunities and the desire to allow female directors a far better road and the ability to make more opportunities. We want to create more opportunities for girls and young actresses."
The actress, 49, was of the view, however, that 'things had started to change.' She said, "I'm working in a TV series where the main roles are for women. I sat with Reese Witherspoon and we figured that out."
Presented with the statistics that of the top 500 films from 2007 to 2013, only 30% of speaking characters were women and roughly a third of them were shown in sexually revealing dresses, Nicole stressed on the need for quoting such figures and 'instigating change through dialogue.'
"The only way to instigate change is through discussion and dialogue and to keep the issue 'activated," she said.
Nicole, who has two children, Faith and Sunday, with her husband Keith Urban, also emphasised on the need for involving men in the process of empowering women. "Males should also support the matter. I was raised by a feminist father. I have always been surrounded by understanding men who were willing to fight for the women in their lives. My husband and father were both willing to fight for me," she said.
Earlier, the actress participated in a session at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit where she spoke about her days of struggle, her love for India and all things Bollywood, being a feminist and the need for education in a country like India where gender inequality was rampant.
Nicole has been busy filming the science fiction romantic-comedy How to Talk to Girls at Parties where she plays an alien from outer space. She will next be seen in Lion (2016), where she plays a parent who adopts a young Indian boy. Other Hollywood actresses who have hit out against sexism include Jennifer Lawrence, Patricia Arquette, Meryl Streep and Sharon Stone.