Calcutta: More than 20 panelists celebrated womanhood on the last day of the Women Empowerment Festival, in association with The Telegraph and Merchants' Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Calcutta Club on Saturday.

Curated by Ahava Communications, the two-day event underlined one important idea: the times are a changing but women's empowerment still needs a big push. Several areas of inequality were highlighted by the speakers.

The first session of the day, How Chauvinistic Is The Film Industry Today?, focused on some disturbing truths. "Male actors throw more tantrums, they are often late to sets, I have to try harder to contact them. Female actors have better work ethics. My women-centric films don't do well in the box office...," said filmmaker Sekhar Das. In the times of Harvey Weinstein, there were talks of abuse, inequality of pay cheques and gender bias in scripts.

"Chauvinism in films won't go away easily...Even in Hollywood how many films do you see with women in the lead?" asked filmmaker Bedabrata Pain. The verdict, men still rule in the film industry though women are fighting hard for their place in the sun.

"Except in the television industry where women lead even with better pay," put in moderator Sudeshna Roy, a filmmaker.

The hard hitting session also saw men and women debating, in a lighter vein, whether the voice of women singers should be sweet like a koel's or powerful like Tina Turner's, or if an actress should do a Salman and take off her shirt to be a mass icon. Other speakers included singer Paroma Banerji and actress Sudiptaa Chakraborty.

The second session of the day asked: Where do women stand in terms of inclusive growth and progress? The answer: not tall enough.

"Inclusiveness is a great idea but we need to be pragmatic enough to see how much is implementable," cardiothoracic surgeon Kunal Sarkar said. He said many female students rule the world of medicine, but many leave the profession midway. "They account for a large attrition rate in my profession. We must find out why some cannot make use of the opportunities they get," he added.

"Women have many additional responsibilities that are overlooked. They often have to make a choice. That makes them fall behind," said co-panelist Deborah Moriarty, drawing a parallel between women in India and the US.

Restriction of opportunities in jobs, social strata and even in elite social clubs here were discussed. "Indian laws are inclusive now but there is a difference between paper and reality," said theatreperson and lifestyle coach Nivedita Bhattacharjee.

Other speakers included musician Jenifer Heemstra, founder of Earth Day Network Karuna Singh, PR professional Modhurima Sinha, interior architect Mukul Agarwal, retired IAS officer Prasad Ranjan Ray and artist Reena Dewan. The session was moderated by consultant Raju Raman.

The last session was titled: "Feminism: Is it a realistic proposition today?"

It had most of the 11 speakers and a moderator deciding in its favour. "The fact that we are sitting here makes it relevant," pointed out theatre actor Ramanjit Kaur. Existing workplace harassments, discrimination, abuse at home and the glass ceiling still make it necessary.