'Real change can come only by changing the mindset of society towards females', says Priyanka Chopra

On the work front, Priyanka Chopra was last seen in the fourth installment of the Matrix franchise, 'The Matrix Resurrections'.

Lucknow: Stressing on gender equality, actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas on Tuesday said government schemes are there, but the real need is to change the mindset of people towards girls and women. The UNICEF goodwill ambassador, who was on a two-day visit to the Uttar Pradesh capital since Monday, also described child abuse as a bane of society. 

"No matter how many schemes you implement, they have done (their job). But real change can come only by changing the mindset of society towards females," she told PTI here. "Our country India has a huge population and the mindset is very old. Until this mindset that girls do not need anything, girls do not have any rights and girls are our property changes, how will a transformation come on a large scale," she asked.

The UNICEF goodwill ambassador lauded the Uttar Pradesh government's women helpline number '1090', saying it "can digitally track the victim and provide her help in times of distress". On Monday, she had visited the centre here from where the helpline is operated. Boys have to be taught to respect girls and how they should treat them, said Priyanka Chopra, who also visited a few girls' schools and anganwadi centres, and interacted with people there.

"It is important to end stereotypes that girls are 'paraya dhan', what is the need for girls to study and why should money be wasted on girls. Such thinking needs to be changed in the house. Until these changes are brought, not much can be achieved," she said. To a question on why films are not prominently highlighting cases of child abuse, she said, "I have not done Hindi films for a long time. But I would say that you put high equity on films. We are not lawmakers, we only make films and stories."

"People watch movies, enjoy movies and go. But change will not come because somebody made a social media comment. Change will not come because something has been shown in a scene (of a movie). Change will come when there is a change in the mindset," the actor said. Lauding digitisation in the context of implementation of the government schemes to end child abuse, she said, "The pace at which digitisation has taken place in the country, it has not taken place at the same pace anywhere else in the world."

Priyanka Chopra said Uttar Pradesh's population is larger than that of Brazil and an anganwadi worker has to keep 50 registers and something might get missed sometime. Owing to digitisation, today there is an application that has all the relevant information, she said, apparently referring to the POSHAN tracker app developed by the central government to eliminate malnutrition. The app has information about children covered by an anganwadi worker. Asked about whose biopic she would like to enact, the actor said, "I do not think on those lines about my films. I will go by a good story and a good idea."