CHENNAI: Marriage pressure, work pressure, family pressure; you name it, Saranya has undergone everything.
Just six months, that was enough for the native of Nanjamadai Kuttai, a remote village in Erode district, to realise that the high-paying, so-called covetous and comfortable, coding job at Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) is not her cup of tea.
Without a second thought, Saranya, the first woman graduate in her family, decided to give her dream of donning the ‘olive green’ a try. And here she is. The girl in her twenties is set to pass out of the Officer’s Training Academy (OTA) on Saturday. “I don’t like to stay in one place and do the monotonous desk job,” she said when asked why she quit her job in CTS.
In her neighbourhood in Bhavani taluk, she has seen many a dream of girls wilt owing to the pressure of early marriage. And, she embarked on a journey of her own, with the hope that she could motivate the girls in her village to step out of their homes, dream big and work towards achieving it.
“When my family got to know that I was preparing for Service Selection Board (SSB), they were apprehensive and wanted me to get married,” said the proud soon-to-be officer.
Though statistics on rural women, looking out for prospects in the police force and later switching over to don the army uniform, is not available, the state’s women have been a pioneer in adapting to changes. The state already has the largest number of women in the country (43%) who are part of the industrial workforce.
Industries Minister TRB Rajaa said, “Tamil Nadu’s success in encouraging a significant number of women to become part of the industrial workforce can be attributed to the state’s progressive politics, policies and supportive ecosystem. Today, targeted schemes of Chief Minister MK Stalin like ‘Pudhumai Penn’ and the free bus ride schemes showcase our continuing efforts to promote gender equality, which has been pivotal for our sustained achievements in building equity.”
“Our emphasis on education and skill development, particularly among women, has also been instrumental. By ensuring access to quality education and vocational training, especially rural women, we have enabled women to excel in various manufacturing roles, traditionally dominated by men,” he said.
Sujatha Mody, president of Penn Thozhilalar Sangam, said the women are opting to be part of industrial workforce due to loss of agrarian economy. “The biggest challenge for women is the meagre wages they are getting when compared to male counterparts. We are pushing hard, the minimum wage should be at least Rs 20,000,” she added.