Indian lingerie model, 52, fights for change

MUMBAI • A 52-year-old Indian lingerie model is pushing for e-commerce firms to hire older women for their advertising campaigns, challenging what she says are the ageist norms practised by many companies.

Geeta J, a former teacher who took to modelling when she turned 50, wants India's innerwear companies to be more inclusive and avoid featuring only younger women in their promotion drives.

"Are women no longer fit to become a lingerie model past a certain age?" Geeta said in an online petition on Change.org, captioned with the hashtags #AgeNotCage and #LingerieHasNoAge, which she started this year.

Her job is bold and unusual in the largely conservative Indian society, where religious and cultural norms limit women's freedom to dress the way they want.

Such norms are even more restrictive for women over the age of 40, said Geeta.

More than 11,000 people have signed her petition, which is addressed to the chief executive of the popular innerwear company Zivame.

"This will lead to a change in the mindset of people in our country who think that after 40, women should dress and behave in a certain way," Geeta said in the petition, adding that she hoped it would lead to more companies following suit.

She began her career after winning a runner-up prize in a beauty pageant for older women.

While her family and friends have been supportive of her career switch, she is aware many Indian women her age would find it difficult to do so.

"I want to tell all women that they should care about the dreams of their husbands and loved ones and support them, but they should never think their own lives are not important or their wishes are not important," she said.

REUTERS