SHORT STORY
Krishnagiri is among Tamil Nadu’s most underdeveloped districts and ranks poorly on almost all social parameters. There is a deep-rooted belief that men are superior.
Investments in manufacturing have changed the lives of 40,000 women in Krishnagiri and its neighbouring districts. Today, there are more jobs for women than the district can fill.
Industrialization has brought about a change in attitudes. The community now respects women—their newfound financial independence has given them a say in family affairs.
“We monitor the girls very closely at school. Even if they are absent for a few days, we visit their homes to check on them,” she explains. But the parents are smart. They find ways to hoodwink us and get them married. The threat of a first information report (FIR) and even the arrest of parents has had very little impact.
Ramesh Kumar, deputy director— health, Krishnagiri, is in a similar predicament. Despite the government’s best efforts, the sex ratio of the district has failed to improve significantly. “Even educated parents want a male child,” he says. They go out of their way to determine the sex of the foetus and terminate the pregnancy if it is a girl. There are mobile scanning vans and most scanning happens in mangroves or in nearby forests. “Even a daily wage labourer spends as much as ₹40,000 to scan and terminate a pregnancy,” he adds.
That leads to other problems. Most often, the pregnancy is terminated illegally and that causes health issues later on—the maternal mortality rate is high. The only option is to find a better approach to create awareness, he says.
TARGETED APPROACH
The Tamil Nadu government has begun doing just that. Thanks to the spate of jobs on offer and the benefits they offer women, the state government is adopting a multi-pronged awareness programme to pave the way for them. Through schools, it is catching them young. “We have started career guidance from 9th standard,” says K.P. Maheshwari, chief educational officer, Krishnagiri. “We have prepared a booklet asking students what they want to become and what they should study to get employed in factories like Tata Electronics or Ola,” she adds. Kids are taught to look beyond marriage and become aware of the benefits financial independence offers them.
The parents are also counselled on the importance of educating the girl child, avoiding early marriage, and made aware of the numerous job opportunities that exist today. They are taught how to handle the societal pressure they will face for breaking with tradition.
Awareness apart, conscious efforts are being made to understand why some people in the district follow regressive paths and change mindsets. One of the main reasons, apart from cultural issues, for parents preferring early marriage is the safety of the girls. They leave for work early and return late. Instances of couples eloping in this district, which borders Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, are quite high.
To tackle this, the government has set up girls’ hostels and incentivizes parents who send a girl child to college. It has also come out with schemes that help girls choose a career and develop skills.
The change brought about by these efforts is very visible. In November 2021, S. Madhumozhi Anand took over as the principal of a village school in Kambainallur. On the very first day, she gave homework to the students. “The next morning, I was in for a shock,” she recalls. “A group of parents came to protest. ‘If the girls have to study at home, who will do the household chores and feed the cows,’ they asked.”
When she finally left the job at the end of
2023 to run a dance school in Krishnagiri town, the same parents came to her for advice on what courses their girls needed to enrol in to get good jobs. This change in thinking is validated by the numbers. “Dropouts from school are almost zero this year and enrolment into higher education (colleges/diploma) has risen 89%,” says Maheswari, the district’s chief educational officer.
MINDING THE GAP
Today, the jobs created by the influx of investments far outnumber the women available to take on such roles in Krishnagiri district. And so, a desperate industry is casting the net wider.
“Earlier, companies looked for graduates or diploma holders. Now, they are okay taking in someone who has passed the 10th standard and training them,” says S. Deenadayalan, a human resources consultant who works in the district and identifies talent for employers.
Considering the future demand for jobs and the need to employ girls from faraway districts, the government is setting up large industrial hostels. On its part, industry is working closely with local polytechnics and engineering colleges to dovetail the curriculum to suit their needs.
These efforts are certainly not enough to meet shortterm demand. Some companies have tried to bring women workers from other states but suffered high attrition. Naturally, poaching is on the rise.
J. Saranya was working at TVS Motor’s three-wheeler plant in Hosur. She moved to Ola, which was closer to home, and offered better pay. As more jobs chase fewer girls, their stock is rising. To retain the girls, the companies offer a free ‘doorstep pick up and drop’ service, free food, good pay, daycare facilities, a career growth path, options to study while working, and so on. The exposure the girls receive is also teaching them to dream big, says Deenadayalan. M.S. Bharathi (20) is an operator at Tata Electronics, inserting components in motherboards. Alongside her job, she is also pursuing a degree via correspondence. Bharathi’s earnings have lifted her family from poverty. She now aspires to become a lawyer. “I am waiting for my family’s finances to improve further and save enough money before I pursue my dream,” she says. A few years ago, it would have been impossible for her to even dream of such a life.