Chennai’s women butchers break into traditional trade
CHENNAI: From supporting their families to honouring family occupations, two Chennai women have broken the glass ceiling and entered butchery, a typically male-dominated field. Curiosity led them to the occupation, and now determination carries them through it.
While working as a customer service executive with TenderCuts, K Sudarvani was curious about the butcher room function. The head butcher, noting her interest, allowed her to watch the trained butchers cut and prepare several cuts of meat for their customers. Eventually, she was allowed to try to prepare the cuts herself, and that was when things changed for her. “I graduated as a beautician from my home town Kumbakonam. After I got married and came to Chennai, work was few and far between, so I decided to take up a job as a customer service executive. Noting my interest, the head butcher let me watch and even cut the meat. Eventually, I decided to begin my training,” said the 34-year old, currently a trainee butcher.
Initially, the whole experience was frightening, but with time and practice, Sudarvani is now comfortable enough to handle multiple back-to-back orders. “They say this is a male-dominated job, and I was concerned. But I received a lot of support from the male staff and they taught me everything. Now, we have eight women working with us,” she added. With the steady occupation to tide her through the pandemic, Sudarvani is grateful that she accepted the position when she did and has not got her husband to join her in the same branch. “I actually prefer this job compared to my beautician job,” she said.
Honouring a family legacy
When R Chinna Ponnu was 27, her father passed away in her hometown in Cuddalore. Left with a butcher business that her father tended to, she put out an ad promoting the shop after the 13-day mourning period. Soon, the business began rolling in.
“The people at home would keep saying how being a girl, I had taken over my father’s business and worked as hard as him. I had to sustain my mother and three sisters,” said the now 45-year-old.
When the land around her shop was marked for highway expansion, she moved to Chennai and began working at TenderCuts, Thoraipakkam, in 2019. Having the basics under her belt, she joined as a butcher and has been working there since. “I have learnt how to make several different cuts and how to reduce wastage. In my father’s shop, I would cut based on size, but here, we cut based on the dish, which is better. I’ve also learned how to work with formal equipment and follow better hygiene practices,” she said.
However, she wants to return home and to her father’s shop in Cuddalore and restart the business, using the techniques and practices she has learnt in the city, once she knows how the highway issue stands. “I think my father would be proud of me. I’m in Chennai and working in a profession he took a lot of pride in. The locals there talk about me still, saying that I’ve made it big in the city. Maybe I’ll go back. But for now, I’m happy,” she said.