On a level playing field

Women are breaking barriers by entering traditionally male-dominated fields, reshaping industries and challenging stereotypes

On a sweltering June day, I descended a spiral staircase beneath Bangalore’s MG Road, where Larsen & Toubro is assisting BMRCL (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited) with the tunnel construction for the line’s subterranean segment. Sweaty and filthy, 25-year-old Pallabi Modak stands amidst the racket of machinery. Noting down the survey coordinates from the navigation devices mounted on the tunnel ceiling, she is sitting on a four-meter-tall gantry crane.
Not too far away Nandita Chakraborty watches the ring-building exercise taking on within the tunnel from a distance of a few metres. Chakraborty is the senior manager from L&T assigned to the facility in charge of quality assurance and quality control. Chakraborty bears the duty of transferring the site to BMRCL.
Among her 700 male coworkers, Chakraborty was the only woman when she started at L&T. Things have gotten better now that more and more women are becoming civil engineers. Even more impressive is the rise in female civil engineers accepting on-site posting such as Chakraborty.
Finding Nandita and Pallabi and a few other women working with heavy machinery and managing quality control was, to me, as much revealing a sight as it was exciting.

Steely will
Up until 2018, only men oversaw the coloration department of the STL Cable Factory in Silvassa, where optical fibres are coloured in machines for easier identification. Since then, only women have been in charge of the unit. Forty-five machine operators, comprising fifteen engineers from small towns in India, are there. Some of them are the first in their family to attend college, some are the first to enter the workforce, and some have overcome numerous obstacles to get to where they are.
25-year-old Neetika Jaiswal shifted to Silvassa from Lucknow to join STL as a line operator. “I joined in the year 2017 and I remember that at that time, an all-male team led the colouring section, and only three women were there, including me. Being a part of this was a proud moment, and I was excited to contribute my best to the organisation. This model shifted in 2018 from when women led the whole colouring section. This new model brought new energy and more confidence among us. Also, coming from a lower-middle-class family, I always believed in grabbing the opportunity and proving myself whenever needed,” recalls Jaiswal, who has a diploma in engineering.
A group of women, ages 23 to 24, meticulously run the production lines at STL’s Silvassa optical fibre cable solutions plant while collecting data in the colouring unit. This all-women sector demonstrates persistence, perseverance, and self-improvement with a continuous 5% increase in First Time Right (FTR) and Operating Equipment Efficiency (OEE).
In a similar vein, the ladies at the Silvassa Optical Interconnect facility are dispelling myths. These women manage the Multiple Technical Line in ultra-clean, very complex conditions with micron-level tolerances. In September 2020, there were only 20 women employees in the company’s manufacturing units. Today, these young women comprise over 50% of the total staff at the facility. Rajashree Behera is one of them.
Rajashree Behera’s father had passed away in 2016 and she had to support her family. However, her decision to move to a city was met with opposition by her uncles and family. She nonetheless joined STL in 2020. “My mother supported me and encouraged me to fulfill my dreams. After joining STL, I observed a change in their behaviour. My financial independence earned me respect in my extended family. I have now become a source of inspiration for my younger siblings. Now, I not only support my family expenses and my siblings’ education but also pay for my B.Tech degree,” says Rajashree.

Wheeling it
In recent years, women have shattered traditional gender norms by venturing into unconventional roles that were once dominated by men. Whether it’s mining, cab driving, or operating metro trains, women have exhibited remarkable grit and determination in pursuing careers in male-dominated fields.
Similarly, the sight of women behind the wheels of taxis or steering metro trains is becoming increasingly common, challenging stereotypes and inspiring others to break barriers.
It is challenging for women to drive in India due to the patriarchal mindset, let alone drive a cab or operate a taxi service. But there are women who, despite all the odds, have entered the fray and are reworking the old patterns.
Bengaluru-based GoPink Cabs was founded by Anuradha B. M, Sunila Suresh, and Kalyani S. with the goal of creating financial independence for women from disadvantaged backgrounds by providing training and career opportunities, as well as safe rides for women. Their 13 drivers have been ferrying passengers safely for 18 years and yet battle prejudice and harassment. They reveal that the cops deal with them more strictly than male drivers. The male drivers are let off for the same offense, while they are stopped, questioned, and fined. To date, they have served more than 50,000 local customers.
Surekha Yadav, an Indian woman, is the first female loco-pilot in Asia and the first person to drive the recently launched semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express train.
Currently, Indian Railways employs 1,247 female loco-pilots, or roughly 3% of the total of 41,019 loco-pilots. In order to operate the twin-engine trains that traverse the picturesque and precipitous Western Ghats, she has also undergone specialised training.
At Indian Railways, women are serving as not just loco pilots but also guards, station managers, technicians, engineers, ticket examiners, and security personnel.

The right is mine
In mining, a profession traditionally associated with rugged masculinity, women are making their mark, challenging stereotypes, and proving that they can excel in physically demanding environments.
In 2019, shortly after the Ministry of Labour and Employment lifted the ban on employing women in underground coal mines, Tata Steel rolled out the stellar initiative ‘Women@mines’ encouraging women to join their mines. The steel major deployed women mining engineers at its Noamundi mine in Jharkhand in all shifts.
The objective is to have 20 per cent women officers in the workforce by 2025. Today, they operate heavy earth-moving machineries at Noamundi mines. A 27-year-old miner whose father and grandfather also worked at mines, says she is thrilled to be operating such heavy machines. “I work as a shovel operator. Through these machines, I excavate material and load it onto the dumper,” says the miner, who doesn’t wish to be named. Her profession has made many young girls in the area curious. They prod her to share the details about the hiring process.
Another miner who performs underground drilling reveals that it was her father who found out about the vacancy and asked her to apply. She applied, cleared the written exam, and went through the interview round. “It’s not easy to go underground and operate such machines. It can be physically taxing for anyone. When I perform my job, I am not conscious about my gender though,” she explains.
Moreover, some women have ventured into roles like desludging operators in sanitation, a domain not typically associated with female employment. Their tenacity in tackling challenging tasks which are often stigmatised, highlights the changing dynamics of gender roles and the determination of women to pursue careers based on their interests and capabilities rather than conforming to societal expectations.
One of the few female desludging operators (DSOs) in Trichy, Divya Manimaran offers commercial septic tank services.
While her spouse struggled with alcoholism, Divya had to find ways to provide for the family. She went with the sanitation industry, which also happened to be her husband’s profession. When she was 21, she bought a truck and had it modified with a hollow tank and hose.
For Divya, the sanitation industry was already difficult because it was perceived as a filthy profession. Her problems were worsened by her gender.
Divya works in a number of Trichy neighbourhoods. She works as a DSO and gets paid about 800 each load, handling water disposal from hotels and hostels every morning. Every month, the team cleans up 10 to 15 residences. In the process, Divya handles the hose, coupler, and valve while the driver of the truck that she hired drives up to the destination. Divya removes sewage and takes it to specific stations in the city for additional treatment as part of her daily routine.

Regeneration & research
Engineering, a field long dominated by men, has seen a significant influx of women who are contributing their skills and expertise to various technological advancements. Their presence not only diversifies the workforce but also showcases the resilience and capability of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine) disciplines.
In fact, while there is a decline in overall enrolment of students in STEM, those for women it is steadily increasing. Women today constitute nearly 47% of enrolments in these disciplines. However, the number of women entering the workplace is not the same. According to the United Nations, out of a 280,000 scientists, engineers, and technologists in research development institutions in India, women constitute merely 14 per cent.
Anuradha Acharya, CEO of Mapmygenome and founder of Ocimum Bio Solutions writes in a blog, “As a woman working in science in India, there are two things that stand out in my mind: first, inspiring more girls to choose science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for a career; and second, striving for gender balance in the workplace. Part of the equation is getting more girls into STEM; the other part is keeping them there.”
As a woman in STEM, Sharon E Kumar, Chief Operations Officer, EXSTEMPLAR Education Linkers Foundation and Fair Director for the Initiative for Research and Innovation in STEM (IRIS) – a program that reaches out to students for class 5 to 12 and encourages them to conduct research around original innovations of their own, says, she is constantly amazed and enthused by the young girls she meets in her journey in the STEM space.
“I am constantly amazed and enthused by the young girls I meet in my journey in the STEM space for Fair Director for the Initiative for Research and Innovation in STEM (IRIS) – a program that reaches out to students for class 5 to 12 and encourages them to conduct research around original innovations of their own. We also provide them the opportunity to represent India on the world stage at Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair held in the USA every year.”
“STEM for me has always held a thrill; it’s the portal that opens on to a world of factual reasoning and endless possibilities through guided research, and I look forward to meeting and interacting with more young people who have set out on this illustrious path,”

Flying high
More and more women are becoming pilots in the aviation sector. 15% of the nation’s pilots are female, according to the most recent data. This is three times higher than the global average of 5%, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
According to a recent statement by Tata-owned Air India, women make up over 40% of the airline’s personnel.
These women breaking barriers in unconventional roles exemplify resilience, determination, and a commitment to challenging societal norms, paving the way for a more inclusive and diverse future. These trailblazing women are excelling in positions once reserved for men, proving that capability knows no gender. Their achievements not only empower women but also redefine success, emphasising opportunities over gender bias.
As more women enter these unconventional spaces, they pave the way for future generations, fostering inclusivity and dismantling preconceived notions of what women can achieve.