DAY 4
Visiting the factories set up through Anita Dongre CSR initiatives
Today provided us with an opportunity to chat with some truly inspirational women, currently in employment with Anita Dongre’s Grassroots collection. The aim of the village factories where these women work is to provide women in need with the materials, skills, and training to produce garments that can then be sold. These women are selected to participate based on supposed need; first it is the single women who are approached then the widowed and divorced.
We visited the newer of the two centres currently running first. I think the biggest shock, or maybe relief, was the difference in comfort between the fast fashion factories of TechnoCraft Industries and the factory we were standing in, first in Jawhar and then Charoti. The women we spoke to were all thrilled with the effect that employment had had on their lives. Firstly for personal gain, non of them had none one another prior to working together and the women in Jawhar said that they had “bonded like sisters”. his was especially evident when the power cut suddenly, the women all huddled together giggling, much the same as you would do among close friends. They felt confident and independent and, most importantly of all, they had their own money. The commitment to their jobs was also astounding. One women said that she had to walk 3km every morning in order to catch a bus that took her closer to the factory but still leaving her with another walk the other end.
In the second factory in Charoti, it was immediately clear that they had been running longer, A form of hierarchy had emerged and the factory ran smoother with clothes with more complicated patterns being produced at a faster rate. These women were also more confident in their work as they had been doing it longer. An important note is the pride that these women had in their gender. They celebrated women day for the first time this year and they had a brilliant poster on the wall saying: “Women are fools to pretend that they are equal to men…. they are far superior and always have been” in both english and the native language.
Of course we took many photos with them and left for the Taj President. we ate Thai food from one of the restaurants at the hotel, had another swim in the pool and headed off to bed early.
