They have never worn palazzos, which are in vogue in college campuses today. But they tailor the trendy outfit, many of which are being sold in universities in the US. They are young women from marginalised communities in the villages of Tahtajpur and Faridapur in Uttar Pradesh, and they manage to bag bulk orders for palazzos and other dresses, school uniforms and school bags.

“I earn to be able to spend on my own needs and give the rest to my parents,” says Seeta, a Std VIII dropout from Faridapur Inayat Khan village.

Geeta Rani from Tahtajpur is doing the same. “I had to discontinue my studies after Inter (Std XII), but now I have joined BA classes even as I continue with my tailoring work,” she says.

More than a hundred girls like her and Seeta were taught tailoring under a project financed by IL&FS and implemented on the ground by Mrida, a social business start-up. The aim was to create women entrepreneurs in these villages and support them with market linkages. The Raj Lakshmi Centre at Tahtajpur was set up in 2015, while the Faridapur centre came up last year, and they both offer six-month courses.

Success, order by order

Of the 115 women trained at the two centres so far, a bulk of them are skilled in basic stitching. The rest, around ten, were selected for advanced training to take over as entrepreneurs.

To start with, the girls got orders from the local people, but had their big break with an order for 120 uniforms from a Delhi school. This gave them the confidence to manage large institutional orders. Between the two centres, they currently handle a monthly order of 3,000-5,000 muslin cloth bags for a Delhi-based e-commerce company, Jaypore. Except for help in marketing, the two groups manage everything on their own.

Step into palazzos

The idea of stitching palazzos came from a team of students from the University of Virginia who worked with these women as part of their internship with Mrida. They had been assigned the task of creating market linkages. The fabric was sourced from Delhi and the block printing was done with the help of a Delhi-based NGO. A group of eight girls completed an order for 150 palazzos in less than seven days. Describing the young women as “hard-working and incredibly motivated”, Janie Hammaker, one of the visiting students, says she was inspired by the courage of these women who defied traditional gender roles to work outside their homes.

Hammaker and two other UVA interns, Malvika Jain and Raghav Savara, sold 70 palazzos within the first three weeks of the semester.

Calling their initiative ‘Shakti’, in a nod to the courage of the young village women, the US team plans to coordinate a larger order for the next semester. They are also using social media platforms to bag orders. Mrida, too, is working on an online rural marketplace to help artisans get better prices for their products.

Phoolan Devi from Tahtajpur, who works at the Raj Lakshmi centre, is studying for her graduation. “I don’t have to borrow money from my parents for my studies or other necessities. The training and earnings have also given us the confidence to go to other places on our own.”

Empowerment can bridge the gap in gender inequality and, in the case of these young women, a beginning has been made.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi

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