Spark a change - How about we DON’T reinvent the wheel?

A lot has been said and done about how there is a dire need for women’s empowerment. And yet, in a country as progressive as India, the condition of women is still, for want of a better word, backward. Before this blog starts to seem like just another preachy article, I’m going to quickly cut to the chase.

I believe employment empowers a person like nothing else. Yes, education is important and the need for women’s literacy can never be articulated enough. But, quite frankly, literacy is a grass root problem. The solution I’m offering is of a more immediate nature – to empower the great number of mature women in the lower strata of the society.

The thought: 

Almost every girl in the lower middle class society is hardwired to believe that her primary responsibility is cooking, cleaning and looking after the family; work and employment is secondary. Hence, practically every girl in this society is taught how to cook at a very early age. Women, in general, are considered better cooks than men (you never hear anyone missing “papa ke haath ka khaana”). Why is it then that most cooks and chefs in restaurants are men? And I don’t just mean the fine dining restaurants, even in your local Udipi restaurants, lunch homes or even bars, the cooks are always men.

The solution:

If we could just replace all these male cooks with female ones, it’ll open up a huge source of employment for women.

Advantage to employer: 

Women don’t have to be trained to cook, they’ve been doing it since the time they could light a match. The right salt and spice proportion is second nature to them. Hence, zero training expenditure.

Advantage to employee: 

Even if they’ve never held a job in their lives before, these women don’t have to feel nervous because they’ll just be working behind the scenes doing what they do every day!

The execution: 

Have an NGO portal listing all these ladies with amazing culinary skills that are looking for employment. Approach small restaurants and give them visiting cards and pamphlets so that whenever a vacancy comes up, help is just a call away.

So really, it’s a win-win situation. I’m aware that this concept has already been explored by Lijjat and the dabba services folk, but I’m just suggesting a different spin on it. So there you have it, my two-cents on sparking a change.

It might seem too matter-of-fact and un-emotive a blog, but sentimentality would not solve the world’s problems, practicality would. Hain na?