Why India Needs A Sisterhood

Forging Communities Inside Salons

Sandhya Sharma, 45, set up her own small parlor because she was married off too early – at 11 – to a man twice her age. Not only did she have to grapple with motherhood too soon, but also with a wife-beating, drunken husband. She realized the only escape from domestic abuse was to set up her own salon. Sandhya tells Shaili Chopra, the author of Sisterhood Economy: “Sometimes having your own space is about having a safe area to chit chat, laugh out loudly and have some friends.”

Besides, the income was necessary. Many Indian women from the lower socioeconomic strata find themselves in a similar situation – wherein the men are either too drunk, or incapable of working. Or are simply shirking their responsibilities, because the wife has been socially conditioned to handle it all.

Beauty parlors then are not just spaces in which women can spruce up their appearances. These “Ladies Only” zones can also serve as a sanctuary for women who might possess few other supportive communities. As Chopra puts it, such salons create a kind of sisterhood in small towns and villages. Women who work or gather here can also contribute funds to finance larger expenses in kitties or beesis. The parlors, ironically, might be performing a role that, in earlier times, might have been assumed by temples, mosques and churches: assuaging wounds and saving souls.

“Where Are The Women?”

In 21^st Century India, in a country that prides itself on technological breakthroughs and fierce goddesses, it’s not just poor women who need to forge a sisterhood. Shaili herself, who worked as a TV anchor with various TV channels including CNBC, NDTV and ETNOW, noticed the appalling paucity of powerful women, among her interviewees.

When she was 30 and interviewing Warren Buffett on her show, she started dwelling on the conspicuous absences. This was the 276^th icon she was featuring. Moreover, her interview was being conducted in Bangalore in 2012. The question that bubbled up inside her was one that few could adequately answer. Why were there so few female movers and shakers?

And how could one address the void? Was there anything that she, as an articulate and reflective TV anchor, could do? As a first step, she submitted her resignation to the channel. Like all pioneers who embark on perilous journeys, she acknowledges “…my head was bustling with self-doubt and questions as I set course on something new.”

Establishing A Platform For Women

She then started meeting women across different strata. Malti, a housemaid, whose husband gave up his mill job at 29. Noor, 33, who had a drunk husband to contend with at nights. Prabha, 41, who felt “invisible” inside a PE firm.

Seven years ago, Chopra started SheThePeople, a women’s channel that is unapologetic about taking on entrenched patriarchal forces. With stories about women who have resisted archetypes or shattered barriers, the digital channel currently reaches an audience of about 85 million viewers. The content also fills a necessary gap. A 2016 survey on Indian media, showed that 80% of the articles focus on the Government, Bollywood and Cricket. Only 10% dwell on women’s issues.

The name, SheThePeople is intended to reinforce the irony embedded in the Indian constitution. After all, the Preamble suggests that “We The People” have resolved to deliver Liberty, Equality and Justice to all. And yet, 75 years after Independence, at least 50% of the population do not feel that the playing field has been leveled. Rather, according to a World Bank Report issued in June 2020, women’s labor force participation has dropped to 20.3%.

Before Covid, women already did three times the unpaid work. The gap has exacerbated since then. “I don’t think someone else has to give women power. They have it, we just enable them to discover it.” If Indian women do discover their own inner shaktis and if they band together, they can evolve into a significant social and political force. After all, as Chopra points out, “women in India are three times the size of Brazil, five times the size of Japan and twice the size of the United States of America.”

In a country currently obsessed with its world ranking on many fronts, Shaili suggests that the nation should unleash its internal reserve: “How can India catapult into a superpower? Simply by treating its women better.” Poverty, hunger and malnutrition can be better tackled by bridging gender wage gaps and championing female voices.

Recognizing Role Models

Besides publicizing stories of women who have broken into boardrooms, CEO offices or into other positions of power, we also ought to recognize those who undermine stereotypes. Like 20-year-old Pragya Ganesh Lohan, who is Raigad’s first female carpenter. Pragya was hired by her father to assist in his carpentry business. Together, the father-daughter duo are challenging the town’s notions of certain jobs being kosher for women.

Or like 22-year-old Shweta Katti, who emerged from Kamatipura, Mumbai’s red-light district as the daughter of a sex-worker. Who contended with a rough childhood but went on to pursue a degree from Bard College in New York and a Master’s in Gender Studies at a University in Budapest. Katti’s dreams were also enabled by a non-profit called Kranti, an organization that she now works with to empower other children in the district. Shaili emphasizes that “Katti is a reminder of no dream being too big.”

Though differences persist across the cultural mosaic, splintering some dreams while fueling others, Shaili’s own journey can be inspirational to many. Having been married at 21 and divorced within a year, she realized that her own views had been culturally sculpted. “It shook my household, my family, and to a great extent, left me wondering if I was that black sheep society constantly alluded to.” Fortunately, for India and its women, she refused to give up on her own voice or on those of her sisters. She channelized her firebrand energy into forging her journalistic career, her entrepreneurship journey and her books. Surely hers too is a story of a nation in its making?

References

Shaili Chopra, Sisterhood Economy: Of, By, For Wo[men], Simon & Schuster, Delhi 2022.