From Fiction To Framework: Analysing Amazon Prime’s ‘Do You Wanna Partner?’ Through Indian Labour Law
- IJLLR Journal
- Jan 15
- 2 min read
Ishita Bhatia, Jindal Global Law School
ABSTRACT
“Tum vese bhi kya karogi promotion ka? Strategy and all is too boring, you should be the face of the company.”
This dialogue from “Do You Wanna Partner?” (Amazon Prime) captures how prejudice, rather than competence, often shapes women’s experiences at work. Taking the series as a starting point, this paper explores gender discrimination through the lens of labour law. It first sets out the plot of the series, identifies the key legal issues, followed by a legal and critical analysis. The paper closes with my own reflections on the series along with reforms needed for genuine gender justice.
PLOT
Do You Wanna Partner? tells the story of Shikha and Anahita, two women who dream of starting their own beer company, only to realise that the real challenge is not the product or the market but people’s attitudes. From the start, they are judged for being women in a male- dominated field. Anahita, for instance, is put down in her previous job when her hard work is brushed aside with the remark that she cracked a deal only because of her smile. Things get worse when they meet investors- one says women are meant to run households while another dismisses the idea as “not for good girls.” Frustrated with this constant rejection, they invent a fictional male partner, David Jones, just so their business is taken seriously. The series shows how deeply gender roles and stereotypes still run, forcing women to put in twice the effort for the same result. This struggle is not limited to some occupations or levels, it is a reality across professions.
LEGAL ISSUES
To look at Do You Wanna Partner? through the lens of labour law, three issues stand out that are common across workplaces everywhere, and these are the ones I will be focusing on in this paper:
Equal Pay and Bias in Opportunities
Hostile Work Environment
Structural Barriers
