Mumbai, Mar 8 (IANS): As the world celebrates International Women's Day on Monday, actress Anupria Goenka hopes that everyone learns how to respect women.

"It is quite ironical that at a time when we have women at power positions, many of us are still denied our basic rights and equal opportunity is still a myth which is why pay disparity continues to be a burning issue," she said.

"What bothers me is that women are judged on the basis of how they dress and how they speak, be it in personal or professional circles. If we don't adhere to society's definition of morality, we are called all sorts of names and are accused of sending out signals to invite men," she added.

The actress will soon be seen in Ashram 2, and she says that through her work, she will always try to highlight issues that are of relavence to women's security and growth.

"I want to highlight the issues that continue to affect women even today. In ‘Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors', I played a lawyer where I am dealing with the shadow pandemic of domestic abuse and violence. The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown saw a dramatic rise in these cases. Domestic abuse is still a very hush-hush issue. No one talks about it because it happens behind closed doors," she said.

Anupria has already been creating awareness through social media.

"I have begun creating awareness on my social media where I share mine and other women's personal experiences related to gender discrimination. I want to be instrumental in bringing about a shift in people's mindsets. Whenever the small outfits run by women approach me to promote their work, I do my bit to encourage women's agency and spirit," she said.