Not just Homemakers but Homebuilders too
DJJS Gwalior: Construction is no longer the domain of men, marks Santulan – the Gender Equality Program of Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan (DJJS) through its one week training workshop from april 27 to may 3rd 2014 on ‘building and construction’ in the Gwalior branch of the organization. A group of ten women were trained to build homes and construct economically empowered futures for themselves. The plethora of activities included brick stacking, mixing of building materials in appropriate ratios, cementing, leveling, lifting and fixing of poles and painting of walls and doors.
Though women form fifty percent of the workforce still they are not allowed to acquire specific skills to play leading roles in construction sector. Besides they are made to work for longer hours and lesser wages on unconventional duties like carrying and transferring of bricks and stones. On the flip side, men get formal training and therefore an upgraded set of skills to work as qualified stone or brick workers in big trades. “A study was conducted on the career progress of 440 men construction workers and 440 women construction workers and 51 building contractors to find out the reasons why women in the construction sector were not able to acquire skills for masonry work and how they could be trained to become masons. The findings of the study show that there is an inherent gender bias against women and also the shared general belief that women construction workers are unfit to be trained informally like men in the construction sector even though they have the necessary skills, capability and desire to become masons”, as quoted by Annette Barnabas in her doctoral study on Empowerment of Women Construction Workers - A Study on the Empowerment of Women Construction Workers as Masons in Tamil Nadu, India.
In this arena, DJJS remarkably questioned the age old malpractice of subjugation of women in labor sector by imparting cutting edge skill set to women to become qualified laborers or trainers. Sadhvi disciples of Shri Ashutosh Maharaj Ji, the Head and Founder of DJJS; working as Gender Experts under the banner of their Gender Equality Program also counseled the women over any kind of violence or discrimination happening with them and empowered them ideologically. Sadhvi Manisha Bharti Ji of the sansthan who is managing the Gwalior Branch Office of DJJS as coordinator personally motivated these women to develop spiritually and raise voice against false cultural doctrines that make women subordinate.
