Ahead of Women’s Day, which is celebrated every year on March 8, actress-singer Shruti Haasan has spoken about the importance of birth control, how men should be taking up a lot more parenting responsibility and use of contraceptive measures.

Shruti, who does not shy away from speaking her mind, said: “We need birth control for men, especially in a society like ours, where conversations around consent don’t really happen.”

“For women, planning a future, willingness to procreate and raise a family, whether they can physically and emotionally afford to have a 4th or 5th baby -- these are important discussions, and if men are not willing to understand (this) or talk about protection, the onus (of childbirth) is on the woman,” she said.

Talking about how men can take up more responsibility, Shruti said: “Men can be heroes in this department by saying, ‘we need to take this responsibility, we can get a vasectomy or use protection. This way, the responsibility of birth control and having a child will not fall on the female partner alone.”

The actress talked about the subject on coto, a safe online space that encourages women to speak freely.