Los Angeles, Jul 1 (PTI) Priyanka Chopra says women have "always been treated as second-class citizens" and unlike men, they are forced to adhere to certain standards of beauty.

The 35-year-old star believes rather than submitting to the societal norms, women should focus on loving themselves and being confident in their own skin.

"We've always been told that only one of us can win and only the best one will get the cutest boy and only the best one will get the job, that we spent so much time elbowing each other out of the way, pulling each other down.

"Can we, for a second, love ourselves and say, 'I do not need all of these magazines to tell me how to lose the weight or how should I starve because I wanna please a man?'" Priaynka said in an interview with Allure magazine.

The actor said people have always doubted women's capability, so they should stop berating their own selves.

"So the next time you see yourself doubting yourself or you look at a picture of yourself and you say, 'Oh my God,' or you wake up in the morning and you say, 'Wow, why do I look like that?'... Whatever that instant might be, the next time you do that for yourself, recognize it," she said.

"Start with just recognizing what you're doing. That's called self-hate, self-doubt, you're berating yourself. I mean, we have enough people doing that to us anyway. Why do we need to do it to ourselves?"

"Love yourself, ladies. You're your best friend," she added

The former Miss World believes "beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder", and added that "everyone doesn't look the same way, so the world needs to be trained to see beauty differently".

"You see so many women, different sizes, modelling, acting, taking their strength, but it's the mindset that needs to change, of society, of men, of people, that view where a woman in a plus size should not be a check in the box. Or a woman of colour should not be a check in the box. Or a woman shouldn't be a check in the box.