AsiaOne – August 2018

Your name has often been associated

with ‘Dark is Beautiful’ campaign.

Please share your experiences as a

part of this campaign.

The Dark is Beautiful campaign was

launched by an organization called

Women of Worth, headed by Kavitha

Emmanuel. Many think that I started

the campaign, but in fact, that’s

not true. I am so glad that such a

campaign was launched and that I was

able to add my voice to it. The issue

impacts so many people, young girls in

particular, and by default I somehow

became a champion of it!

I first heard about Women of

Making a

Difference

with her

Voice &

Acts

NANDITA DAS

Armed with a Masters in Social Work from

the University of Delhi and having worked

with various NGOs, before she forayed into

oOPVWKHUHQRZQHGDFWUHVV1DQGLWD'DV

is an ardent advocate of social issues.
As the Chairperson of the Children’s

Film Society, India, she made many

big and small changes to revamp

the organization and has written,

directed and acted in the play,
‘Between the Lines’ that deals

with gender inequalities. The

play has garnered a lot of

praise from both, critics and

audiences alike

Q

&

A

Worth and Dark is Beautiful in 2013,

when Kavitha contacted me about

lending my support to the campaign.

Discrimination against dark skin is

rampant across class, geography,

and even gender. The imagery all

around us perpetuates and promotes

the stereotype of fairness being an

aspiration or an improvement on dark

skin. While this issue has always been

around, I had not given it focused

attention till I started supporting the

campaign. The issue of dark skin

would always pop up in the many

things I did but it didn’t take centre

stage. I was more concerned with

other, what I thought were ‘bigger’