Palki Sharma took on Zee Media in court a month after she resigned from the network. In a recent podcast, she shared anecdotes about facing sexism and misogyny as a woman in media.
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00:00that your lines have to be tighter than your jeans.
00:02I was expecting my first child.
00:04I was told, but you have to come back in shape quickly.
00:06These rooms are full of predators.
00:30I've seen senior women journalists also commenting on attire of women journalists.
00:48And you know, it's hurtful.
00:52And women get it more.
00:53I'm sure you have also, you know,
01:04these are what, please listen to the content.
01:07No, they're not listening to content.
01:08It's how you're attired.
01:09A lot of these rules apply only to women.
01:12We are supposed to look a certain way we're supposed to, if we are too soft and smile
01:17too much, then we are diffident.
01:21If we are too aggressive, then we are rude.
01:24There's never a good fit.
01:25I think over the past few years, one by one, I've thrown all the rules out of the window.
01:29I want to wear jhumkas with a jacket.
01:31I will wear it.
01:33You don't like it.
01:34Don't watch it.
01:35There was a situation when I was told to take somebody off air because of weight.
01:43And she was miserable.
01:44And she'd gone through some issues health wise.
01:49And she said, I'm working on it.
01:50And I knew she's working on it.
01:53But this happens.
01:55I remember when I was expecting my first child and I told my boss about it, I was told, but
02:04you have to come back in shape quickly.
02:07And the congratulations followed later.
02:11And he was not a mean person, but it just, this is how they are programmed.
02:16I remember my daughter was, I think, a year old and she had an acute ear infection and
02:26she was crying.
02:27I said, I have to go to work.
02:29And everyone said, okay, she'll be fine.
02:31But I reached office.
02:33I got ready for the show.
02:36And the headlines rolled.
02:38And after the first headline, I started crying.
02:43Because I was not on air and the team was very good.
02:47And the PCR guys, they went into a break.
02:49And I said, I know she's fine, but I just don't like being here.
02:56And you know, for the next four weeks, I worried that I may have appeared as less committed
03:05to my work because I did this.
03:08Because no man would ever sit in a studio and cry and say, I have a sick child at home.
03:13People who do carobar are promoted faster.
03:16I don't do it.
03:18So then I will never be, explain this now, those who don't know, carobar is a bar in
03:24a car in the simplest of terms.
03:26After your shift ends, you stand outside in the parking lot, put your glasses on the roof
03:31of your car, drink, chat, gossip, and then go home.
03:36A, it is unsafe because a lot of people are drinking and driving.
03:41And it happens.
03:42It's part of the newsroom culture, I believe.
03:46And it's a great place to bond.
03:48I have never done it in two decades.
03:52And there was a time when I felt that I'm not going to that smoking room and I'm not
03:55doing carobar.
03:56I'm being left out everywhere.
03:57You remember the Me Too movement and all.
03:59You think that men have learned after that, that these are the boundaries you don't.
04:03I don't think so.
04:04No.
04:05I don't think so.
04:06And Me Too is a, you know, we in the media tell everyone else how to conduct themselves.
04:11This is what the society should be like.
04:13This is how judges should be selected.
04:14This is how Neta should be.
04:17We hold truth to power, but we don't face our own truths.
04:23Newsrooms are full of predators.
04:26And some of those who were let go off are back in positions of power, are being legitimized
04:32in more ways than one.
04:35What are we doing about it?
04:37You walked out at one point of time.
04:40I'm not going to mention names, but I think many people know you walked out when you couldn't
04:46take that.
04:49A person who was labeled a predator, do they come with a certain learning when they come
04:55back after they have gone through the, you know, the shame of being called a predator?
05:01I don't know.
05:04I don't think it matters.
05:07You know, you have wronged so many people.
05:11And why should you get the benefit of the doubt now?
05:17That is one.
05:18And second, I don't think they change fundamentally.
05:20This person you're talking about, someone told me that she was his subordinate in a
05:27newspaper and she went to him and said that, you know, this is my script.
05:31And he said, your lines have to be tighter than your jeans.
05:35You get away with it.
05:37How do you get away with that?
05:40And what do you do to the confidence of that girl?
05:44And we let them be and we give them space.
05:47Because a lot of us don't want to be branded as trouble.
05:52About 15 years back, I went to the studio after a big interview had just finished with
05:57a very prominent minister.
06:00And the studio had different sets.
06:02So I had to do the news from another set.
06:05And the editor is asking the minister, would you like tea or coffee?
06:09He's not replying.
06:10He's not replying because he's staring.
06:13And it was a big newsroom and he kept staring.
06:16And I felt violated without him having said anything, without him having done anything.
06:22How do you quantify that?
06:25And what do you say?
06:26That he was looking at me?
06:27Yeah.
06:28But you feel terrible.