BENGALURU: Often constrained to the four walls of a parlour, beauticians rarely get noticed or appropriately compensated for their long hours and back-breaking routines. Demanding standardization of minimum wages, regularization of work hours, legal protection and benefits post-retirement, the Bengaluru Beautician Women’s Trust on Friday protested at Freedom Park. According to reports, the beauty industry employs close to 20,000 individuals in the city and 2.5 lakh across the state.
Speaking to TNIE on the sidelines of the protest, Usha S, a beautician with 15 years of experience in the industry, emphasized the need for recognition and respect for their profession. “We work tirelessly to make others feel beautiful and confident, yet we struggle to receive basic respect and fair compensation. I start my day as early as 8am and close the parlour by 7pm or 8pm. With no standardised prices, monthly income is very low. With growing prices for basic necessities, the education of two children (a boy and girl) is becoming very difficult.”
She added that the government should introduce schemes for beauticians and welfare of their children. The protesters listed 12 demands, including formalisation of work under fixed rates, issuing beautician cards, pension for beauticians above 50 years of age, loans at lower interest rates and that BBMP should formulate guidelines for issuing licences.
Kiran Kumar, president of Karnataka Savitha Samaja, emphasised the need for frequent checks by officials to parlours and make note of any irregularities. “The government should make sure that the minimum distance between two parlours is 1-2 kilometres,” he added.