Women break stereotypes, take up new trades

Sawant is working below the chassis of a car, her shirt full of grease stains. An array of spanners lies to her left, her son’s school bag to her right, reports Kiran Wadhwa.

Sawant is working below the chassis of a car, her shirt full of grease stains. An array of spanners lies to her left, her son’s school bag to her right, reports Kiran Wadhwa.

HT Image

Mumbai: Sampada Sawant is working below the chassis of a car, her shirt full of grease stains. An array of spanners lies to her left, her son’s school bag to her right.

As owner of Sharvaj Motors in Kandivli, Sawant is one of the city’s few female mechanics. Trained at an Industrial Training Institute, she went on to set up her own garage four years ago.

“I wanted to do something different,” she said.

Like her, a small but growing number of women are moving away from the fields traditionally considered suitable to them, such as fashion designing, skin care, secretarial practice and computer operations, and instead are choosing to train as mechanics, welders, carpenters and operators at chemical plants.

Ten years ago, Sawant was the first woman in the state to join the two-year motor vehicle mechanic course. But today, women across the state are choosing this and other unconventional trades at these institutes, which train school and college dropouts in various vocations. Maharashtra has the country's largest network of 700-odd institutes.

This year, 479 women enrolled in these trades — up from 353 in 2008. Until five years ago, the 25 per cent of seats reserved for women in all courses went unfilled in unconventional trades.

“These trades are highly skilled and therefore pay better,” said J.D Bhutange, head of the state’s Directorate of Vocational Educational Training. “More women want to explore that option, challenging stereotypes associated with such jobs.”