Italian model Bianca Balti on Thursday said modelling is one of the few professions in the world where women face less harassment as compared to men.

Speaking at the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025 in Mumbai, Balti, who has modelled for top clothing brands, stressed that it is necessary to have women in leadership roles to bring in the change.

Balti was part of the panel discussion 'Braving the Odds: Scripting a New Narrative'. German woman footballer Ariane Hingst and Israeli actress Rona-Lee Shimon were also part of the panel.

"Modelling is one of the few worlds (professions) where women get less harassed than men. Male models are more vulnerable," he said.

When asked about the pay disparity in the modelling world, she said this could be because women constitute a bigger share of the buying force.

"Men like beautiful models and here we are making more than the male models," she said.

Balti, a cancer survivor, emphasised that the true power of media, especially social media, lies in its ability to create change. It can help raise unheard voices, challenge inequality and promote fair representation, particularly for women.

Hingst said women football players get paid way less than their male counterparts.

She said it is necessary to invest in women's sports.

"If you don't invest in the beginning, you will really not have a good outcome. Very often, I hear women can't earn the same because you don't make the same revenue (like the male counterparts). But even male football has never been the biggest. It has been growing over the years and centuries. So if you invest in the beginning you have a better outcome later," she said.

"Women's football is something you should invest in because if you don't invest right now you are going to be going lost in a couple of years," she said.

Women are more shy, Hingst said, adding that women's football has never been on TV and in the newspaper, so people did not know this kind of football existed.

Younger generation is less gender-biased, she observed.

When asked if she was willing to train India's women football team, she said, "If I have a chance to develop (India's) women football (team), I am all in for it. I would love to see India growing in women football and that would be an amazing task." Urging women to come together, Shimon said it is necessary that women understand what is important for them and what they need to do so that they start taking steps in order to get there and create spaces for themselves that jobs and roles they want in cinema.

"It is the way we have grown up. It's going to take time. We are stepping out of a very strong male patriarchy all around the world," the actor, who featured in popular Israeli television series "Fauda", said.

Shimon also noted that social media plays a key role in this movement by giving women the power to share their voices and stories.

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