Driven by will of achieving different identity women in income generation (Commentary)

File photo of Nepali women.

Pabitra Guragain / Kathmandu: Bebi Thulung Rai of Nagdesh of Bhaktapur feels a kind of satisfaction in return of her Dhaka (traditional textile made of cotton thread) weaving business that she started some two years ago with a nominal investment, as this business is paying off a net profit of up to Rs 25,000 to her in a month.

More so, as a mother of two children, she feels proud of having herself not limited to household chores and also encouraging other interested women to join Dhaka weaving as a form of small-scale enterprise. She mainly produces Dhaka women garments including shawls, saree and Kurtha Salwar piece.

Thirty-seven years old Rai can be just an example of those women who are engaged in income generating activities in an effort to broaden the horizon of their identity and are driven by the will of becoming economically self-dependent.

Rai has employed some 11 women through her Dhaka weaving business. Needy women especially single women (widows), women neglected by their husbands and whose husbands are into alcoholism are her first priority as she wants to make their life somehow easier by involving them in her business.

She has realised that women need to be become financially self-dependent if they want a status equal to men, as economic factor one of the major tools for women to achieve a parallel position to men.
She said the starting of small –scale enterprise like Dhaka weaving does not require much investment. It can be started with small investment, but will power, determination and eagerness is a must to get into the business. In her view, women who do not have time for 10-5 office duty and are deprived of employment opportunity can be the best means of making money.

Likewise, Ganga Tuladhar,30, who has been engaging her hands in providing beauty treatments earns up to Rs 80,000 in a month in pick season. Besides, she provides beautician training to the interested and is totally satisfied with the profession she is with for the past six years. Mother of a seven-year-old boy, Tuladhar is balancing her household duty and business, which is actually a challenge for the majority of the working class women.

Yashoda Shrestha from Pattharkot of Lalbandhi in Sarlahi who is presently living in the capital is waiting to send her son to kindergarten so that she can resume her tailoring business in full-swing. The Plus Two graduate Shrestha ,25, had to give a break to her business from which she used to earn Rs 18,000-20,000 in a month after marriage. She limited her business indoors and takes orders on personal contacts. Her husband is in Malaysia in course of foreign employment, but she does not want to survive on his sole financial support. Instead she is driven by the will of utlilising her sewing skills for the income generation purpose.

Weaving carpet from morning to evening inside a hut made of corrugated zinc sheets every day is a routine of Poornima Tamang , 25, from Jalbire of Sindhupalchowk. Poornima along with colleagues from her village are seen keeping their hands busy in weaving carpet in her rented hut where she had to shift from the nearby rented shelter after the April 25 Gorkha earthquake.

Though her monthly income from carpet weaving rarely exceeds Rs 10,000 for working almost 10-12 hours in a day, she still has no qualms about her life. A mother of two daughters, she knows that at least she has kept herself engaged in income generating activities and also supporting the family financially.

Her husband collects orders for Tamang and her group from the market. She has been weaving carpet for the past one decade and sees no alternative to it as of now. Her husband Man Bahadur Tamang, a former Maoist combatant, takes pride in seeing his spouse utilising their skills for earnings. It is better for them and for men to toil at home instead of toiling hard in foreign land, he argues based on his stint of an abroad job. It may be noted that as per the official data, around 1500-1700 Nepalis (five per cent women) leave the country in course of foreign employment in a day.

But he insists that government should promote the women into income generating act with the determination to become economically empowered.

Rai sounds the similar tone as she sees the need that the government should promote the women interested in getting involved in small scale business, help women who are already in this by finding a better market for their products, modify the business with the adoption of available advance technology and ultimately make their journey towards self dependency easier as small but genuine efforts lead to a big achievement. RSS