“Women are still expected to be ‘soft’, ‘warm’, ‘docile’, preferably with no opinion”

International Women’s Day Special

 By Rameez Makhdoomi

Oyindrila Ray Ghosh comes from a typical Indian middle-class background with a humble beginning. Today she has created a name for herself in the fashion industry. She is a trailblazer in the field of fashion, a two time TEDx speaker,  an award-winning fashion designer, top celebrity stylist, creative director, model, influencer, columnist, marketing and branding expert

On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2022, Global Bihari talks to her, on her inspirational journey in the fashion industry on how she challenges stereotypes and smashes the glass ceiling.

Can you take us through your journey in the Indian fashion Industry?

I come from a typical middle-class Indian family with no connections and a lot of reservations about the fashion industry. I was an academically meritorious student who was naturally expected to follow a traditional career path to become a doctor or an engineer. But I had caught the fashion bug early on and was drawn to the ability to transform the personality, confidence and lives of people with the power of fashion. So in 10th grade, I decided to pursue fashion design and secured a seat at India’s top fashion institute, the National Institute of Fashion Technology.

While I was in NIFT, I was continuously approached by photographers and designers to model. I won several pageants like Chennai Times Fresh Face and Cadbury Radio Mirchi Miss Fresher which lead to modelling opportunities. While I was on these shoots, noticing my ability to put looks together and my knowledge of the craft,  some of the photographers asked me to style their shoots as well. That is how I started styling. I knew I wanted to get more experience so I hustled to get more exposure and build a body of work by working after college hours and on the weekends. I approached more decision-makers to find an opportunity to work with them in any capacity. By the time I finished college, I had already styled fashion calendars, runway shows, multiple editorials and ad campaigns.

During my final year of college, I participated in and won a nationwide design competition organised by India’s premier lingerie brand, Enamor. The COO of the company liked my work and offered me a job on the spot.

While working as a lingerie designer at Enamor, I was also heavily involved in styling the marketing campaigns and lookbooks. I also kept getting offered styling jobs alongside. Eventually, when I decided to quit my full time design role and start my own venture, I already had a vast body of work and experience in design, styling, branding and content development for marketing. And since then there has been no looking back. I knew what I wanted and I put all my energy into achieving it.

My current projects include fashion designing, styling, content strategy and creation, marketing, social media and branding consulting for fashion and lifestyle brands, C-suite executives and entrepreneurs and Bollywood and Tollywood celebrities.

What are some of the challenges for women in the fashion industry?

Although the majority of the workforce in the fashion industry is women, there are several challenges faced by women that still persist right from the labour force to the C-suite. From the gender-based wage gap, unsafe working conditions, harassment, to men being preferred for opportunities, promotions and leadership roles- unfortunately, gender inequality is still a common occurrence in the fashion industry. We need to build an industry where basics like safety, security, hygiene and equal opportunity are the norm.

Is there a stereotype attached to women in the fashion business?

Certainly. I have come across people who assume that women in the fashion business are all beauty and no brains. Despite women building some phenomenal brands, there is an unfair assumption that business decisions are taken by men like the fathers and the husbands, and women are just the face of the business. Women are still expected to be ‘soft’, ‘warm’, ‘docile’, preferably with no opinion let alone a strong contrary one, and anyone who strays from that expectation is labelled ‘bossy’, ‘difficult’ and ‘aggressive’.

In 2019, I was asked by a manager during a hiring interview if I had any plans to get married anytime soon. When I questioned the relevance of what she had asked, she replied that an affirmative answer would imply the female employee would most likely not be working post marriage and may even have to move cities based on the male spouse’s location. So they avoid hiring anyone looking to get married or start a family. Unfortunately, career opportunities and progressions continue to be negatively affected by gender stereotypes and a patriarchal mindset.

Being a woman, how do do you look at your journey?

Unlike most girl children born in India, I was fortunate to be raised in a family where my worth was not determined by my gender. I am the only child of my parents. And I am a female.

In a country where female foeticide is still prevalent, girls are considered to be a burden and a male child is preferred, I was always valued by my parents irrespective of my gender and was given access to every opportunity that a male child would have had access to. Till high school,  I also grew up in a community where my skills, abilities and opportunities were not questioned or limited by gender. And I believe this mindset and environment is necessary for empowering women.

Once I left home for college and was surrounded more by women from different socio-economic backgrounds, I realised my privilege and how even in the 21st-century women are still facing discrimination and abuse based on their gender. I met young girls, sometimes classmates who were not valued and sometimes abused by their families because they wanted a son, women who were not allowed to participate in certain jobs and roles because of their gender, families where the rules were different for the sons and daughters. There is nothing that women cannot achieve, but giving them an environment that enables them to firstly live, and then dream big, strive and succeed is necessary for women to thrive and achieve their full potential.

How do you feel about the current condition of women in India?

There certainly has been some progress in the last couple of decades but we still have miles to go.

For a country where women are equated with goddesses, the reality is quite grim.  We are in 2022, but be it the rural or urban landscape, being a woman in India is a journey full of struggles right from the womb. A struggle to live, survive abuse, harassment, discrimination and violence on a daily basis. We still have a society with a deep-rooted patriarchal mindset. Be it an obsession with a male child, females being considered a burden on the family, female infanticide, the dowry system, trafficking, crimes against women, to the lack of access to basic health care and sanitation, education, equal opportunity, wage and choice- there are a plethora of problems that still plague women in  India.

And while things are changing, and there is a steady rise of women across sections of the society we still have a long way to go before every woman in this country can live fearlessly with equal rights.

What is the one important piece of advice you want to give to women on International Women’s Day?

Be financially independent. Financial freedom gives you the freedom of choice- to live your life on your own terms. It doesn’t matter who your father, husband, brother is, how much generational wealth you have, or whether you’d ever need to use the money, every woman needs to be financially independent. Financial independence is the foremost form of independence you need to have. Once you are financially independent, you have the freedom to choose. You don’t have to stay in abusive relationships, you don’t have to depend on people, you don’t have to endure domestic violence for the sake of providing for your children. You have the freedom to leave people, places and situations that don’t serve you and you get to live your life with dignity and respect.