The Hindu : Women mechanics to show the way

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Women mechanics to show the way

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE April 2. For Pushpa, Kamala, Gowri and Sampangi this is a dream fulfilled. Although the tricky road to triumph has only begun, their beaming smiles are proof that they are confident of their victory.

These four women from various parts of Karnataka, along with a senior mechanic, are the ones who will run Sakhi Motors, an all woman garage in Austin Town, which was launched here on Wednesday. The garage is a project of Vimochana, a voluntary organisation working for disadvantaged women.

"I am confident that one day we will have a big showroom in place of this garage, and all the staff running the place will be women," said Kamala, one of the mechanics at the garage, who, like the other girls, underwent hands on training in a reputed service centre.

Vimochana, a voluntary organisation working with disadvantaged women, aims at removing barriers that prevent women from working in sectors that remained a male bastion. They work towards facilitating the entry of women in occupation that were traditionally considered the "domain" of men.

According to Donna Fernandes of Vimochana, this project started off with a training programme for eight women attached to the organisation, in two-wheeler maintenance and repair in the City. Vimochana tied up with Loyola Institute for six-month training programme and these women had successfully completed the certificate course. They were given hands on training in various service centres in Bangalore.

The culmination of this project was the all-women garage, which would not only give these women a livelihood, but boost their morale. She lauded the courage of these women, who dared to work in a male dominated sector, in spite of the belittling they faced.

The all-women garage, Sakhi Motors on KBA Road, Austin Town, will provide maintenance and servicing for two-wheelers up to 100 cc. The garage would give scooter riding classes to women.

Renuka Chowdhry, MP, who inaugurated the garage, said the society at large consisted of men who perceived women as a liability or a commodity and various media like film and advertisements reinforce this belief. They had created stereotypes of women being the lesser being and inferior to men.

Such myths needed to be demystified and it was time men realised that women were equal partners and they could do anything a man could do and even better.

"Workplaces need to be women-friendly and have facilities for women," she said quoting an incident in Parliament, where she was forced to take her three-month-old baby to a meeting because Parliament did not have a crèche. She said this to illustrate how workplaces were insensitive to women's needs.

Speaking about the proposed Reservation Bill, Ms. Chowdhry asked: "How can you have good governance if you leave out 50 per cent of the people out of governance?"

Earlier, a grocery store run by women, "Naavu Neevu", was inaugurated by Jayakar Jerome, Bangalore Development Authority Commissioner, in the same locality.

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