A nearly six-decade ban on women being employed as make-up artists in the film industry could end after the Supreme Court said it was gender biased and should not continue for a day longer, the Indian Express newspaper reported on Tuesday.
While women work in most areas of Bollywood including as technicians and hairdressers, the industry does not allow women to work as make-up artists. Trade unions say this is to ensure men are not deprived of work.
But in a court case brought by a group of female make-up artists against the Cine Costume Make-up Artists and Hair Dressers Association (CCMAA), a two-judge bench said on Monday that it would not permit this type of discrimination.
"How can it be said that only men can be make-up artists and women can be hairdressers? We don't see a reason to prohibit a woman from becoming a make-up artist if she is qualified," the Indian Express quoted Justices Dipak Misra and UU Lalit as saying.
"You better delete this clause on your own. Remove this immediately. We are in 2014, not in 1935. Such things cannot continue even for a day," they told the CCMAA.
The Indian Express said the petition was brought by make-up artist Charu Khurana and other qualified female artists whose applications for make-up artist identification cards were rejected by the CCMAA because they are women.