What does it take to be a female bodybuilder in India?

From cultural barriers and gender stereotypes to lack of encouragement from sponsors, Ashwini Wakar's journey highlights the difficulties that female bodybuilders in India have to go through.

The word ‘Indian bodybuilder’ is ought to evoke an image of a towering, hulking man with muscles bulging out of his arms, legs and shoulders and looking like he came straight out of a gym advertisement or a men’s magazine cover. This is the kind of pre-conceived notion about the extremely rare sport of bodybuilding that surrounds most individuals in India.

The idea of women in bodybuilding is rare enough to begin with,  Indian women in the field of bodybuilding sounds almost unbelievable. Existing taboos, cultural stereotypes, societal iron norms make it almost impossible for Indian women to even think about bodybuilding as a hobby, let alone a career.

However, times are changing and the arena of bodybuilding, long thought to be limited exclusively to men in India is seeing newer and diverse faces. Leading the winds of change is 32-year-old Ashwini Waskar who is India’s first competitive bodybuilder. Mentally strong, physically charismatic and fiercely unique, she is not only breaking down gender norms and stereotypes one after the other, but is also breaking plenty of cultural barriers and forcing major introspection.

It all began when Waskar joined a basic gym in order to maintain her fitness levels and completed an introductory course on bodybuilding. After returning home to Raigad, she performed some of the same routines as male bodybuilders, surprising the owner of the Raigad gym, Rajesh Angad.

The latter then encouraged her to take bodybuilding more seriously which led to a complete physical transformation and gave her immense musculature as well as the mental confidence and security to start participating in bodybuilding competitions.

Waskar then quit her job as a senior research fellow at the Central Institute of Fisheries Education in order to focus on bodybuilding full time and give it her entire energy and time.

“An announcement was being made there (at a bodybuilding event) about the upcoming first national level female bodybuilding competition and they were asking if anybody wants to participate. So I thought 'why not give it a try?'” Waskar told a Mirror UK report.

She continued to work on her body and muscle definition over the next few months and finished fifth among seven contestants at a national level competition.

However, her journey is not without its fair share of struggles and difficulties. Men find it easier to attract sponsors and get recognition earlier in bodybuilding. Waskar is struggling to make money through bodybuilding and at the moment, her father is supporting her aspirations in the sport. Her monthly expenses on food alone costs Rs 20,000 every month and she even had to sell a gold chain to participate in an event in Mumbai.

“My father has assured me that he will continue supporting me. I am also exploring ways to do it."

Participants naturally have to wear revealing clothes in bodybuilding competitions. Hailing from a conservative family, the 32-year-old initially found it difficult and uncomfortable to compete in bikinis. It was only due to the support of her brother, father, and other family members that she was able to overcome this fear and change her mindset.

"We have to work harder. I'm now training a lot of women, and tell them not to be scared of bodybuilding. After I built my body, I asked my father's permission to wear a bikini and enter a competition, where I flaunted my curves and muscle power. It gave me a lot of confidence," she told Times of India, clearly excited and optimistic about the future of bodybuilding for women in India.