Women entrepreneurs take on ‘men’s work’

17th July 2009

Simon Harding

A group of female entrepreneurs is improving living standards, providing jobs for thousands and breaking age old gender conventions in the Indian state of Gujarat reports Rishi Banerji in DNA. Supported by the Indian government’s Universal Rural Employment Programme, women from a socially disadvantaged ethnic group, the Dangs, set up a brick-making business, a traditionally male undertaking. The business involves collaboration between Dang women from three neighbouring villages: Chetna, Maya Devi and Nirmal. Despite the state funding and training, the brick business is not a charity project, but a booming small enterprise: In the past ten months the business has sold around 0.5m bricks and has given work to around 5,000 local people.

The bricks are sold to local builders, but Bipin Bhatt, head of the local District Rural Development Agency, the branch of the government supporting the women, has big plans: ‘We are planning to promote their product in state and central government schemes’, he said.

Working at the brick business has transformed the lives of local women, many of whom struggle to raise their families on the meagre income generated by their small farming plots. ‘This has totally changed my life’, said Damyanti Dahvad, an employee, ‘I used to work in fields or sit at home, but this activity has given me a new earning option. Many women from my village have joined the work and now they are also having good income.’ Although her daily wage is low, just Rs60 (75p), it is secure and reliable.

The brick making business run by the Dang women shows that the willingness and ability to undertake entrepreneurial activity is present amongst those in absolute poverty. It also demonstrates that a small, but reliable, income - as little as 75p a day - make a big difference to the poorest. Above all, it demonstrates that the state, not just private investors, NGOs and micro-finance initiatives, can play a positive role in encouraging small businesses, which improve local living standards, empower women and provide useful inputs into the local and national economy. 

See also: ‘Dang’s tribal women blaze new trail’, Rishi Banerji in DNA, 16/9/09, available at http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_dangs-tribal-women-blaze-a-new-trail_1274446