Gloria Steiner in her book “Moving beyond Words” says that our world is divided into two parts: the male and the female. There has always been a wide gap between the roles of the two in every walk of life, especially when it comes to choosing suitable careers. Despite the Woman’s Liberation Movement, the disparity stays in large chunks in the mind of a contemporary (even educated) Indian. We have divided ourselves into two groups and we do not exchange places. Whenever someone does it, leads to surprises. Precisely, whenever a woman has ventured into a ‘male profession’ or vise versa people have either been amazed or amused.This week at Haftamag, we profile few women who are into professions that are conventionally male. These women followed their passion in life, albeit opposition and in some cases oppression from family & friends.
If you are a regular visitor at the Goregaon sports club, you are sure to have noticed her. If you are a person who indulges into a lot of offshore flying, you are sure to have been trained by her. She is 22, a state level swimmer, a rescue diver and is the only woman in Mumbai to have plunged into the choppy waters several times to train people to rescue themselves, which also happens to be her full-fledged career. “I train people who fly by helicopters like passengers, pilots, etc to rescue themselves in case of a mishap. This training is compulsory as the helicopter is a machine that can anytime gully into the seawater. That’s when the passengers who are belted to their seats must know how to rescue themselves,” explains Shalaka Beke, the woman herself and a resident of Mulund, Mumbai. The very obvious challenge that Beke faces everyday is enduring her own safety and that of her students. One wrong move and things can go wrong in this fatal stunt. Whilst she trains people to liberate themselves physically, she also deals with the psychology of these fliers, which is what she finds most challenging. “It’s very difficult to remove the natural fear (of heights) that people develop in their minds and to build a reasonable level of courage and confidence in their hearts. This I think is the most challenging part of my work. Moreover, when some passengers see that a woman is going to train them, they stand aghast. They even ask the organizers questions like ‘is there anybody else who can train us for this?’ It really takes sometime for them to digest the fact that this girl is not bad!” says she with a smile conveying self-belief.
Women with families (unlike Beke) say they are often prevented from taking part in career-developing activities such as travelling abroad and attending conferences because childcare is often a problem. Not just childcare but also the mental block that their husbands and family members have been caressing confidently all these years that ‘a woman must only do what looks ‘good on her’ and not things that are pre-dominantly a ‘man’s job’ is also posing a huge threat to their ambitions in such unusual careers. Many claim they have been ‘weeded out’ of the career structure before they reached their potential or acceded to the higher-level positions that their qualifications and experience merited. One such story is the one that follows.
With the help of a thick fat rope, she climbs the 35ft rock-wall in a jiffy and with utmost elegance. Not even a tad of fear or hesitance can be spotted on her face as she glides smoothly from one end of the rope to the other while rappelling. Mrs. Munju Sharma Chitnis, a resident of Powai, is today undoubtedly the queen of mountaineering skills and adventure sports in Mumbai. She is an instructor at the Gold gym and an adventure sports trainer at Hiranandani, Thane & Powai. Explaining further about her work she says, “I train people for rappelling, jhumaring, bungee jumping and also for mountaineering skills which includes a host of activities like trekking, rock-climbing, snow climbing. Many-a-times fellow adventurers may not be able to climb the entire length that’s assigned, so mountaineering may also include helping such people climb the rest of the length along with their baggage.”
When one probes into her personal life, one discovers that at an age of 29, Chitnis is one woman who has faced all practical and emotional confrontations that is possible during one’s entire life span. With meager support from parents and that being zilch when it comes to her husband who seems to have perpetually fled away to another country, she stills holds the power, has emerged victorious and is going strong. “My in-laws threatened they would kick me out of the house if I chose to do something like this. Imagine my plight if I had submitted myself to them! I would have been completely broken down as today my husband is not with me, my parents have passed away and my in-laws want to forget that I was ever related to them. I am only glad that I pursued the career I always wanted to in spite of all the resistance from family and friends. I can now tell my three year old son my story with pride and I feel a sense of achievement today” adds Chitnis with much exuberance.
Women working in some traditionally male careers still face major personal and professional barriers to success, despite efforts by Government and other bodies (NGOs) to reverse this trend. If nothing, Chitnis’s story screams loudly and coarsely of the same.
Ami Shroff, 21, one of the rare sorts of women bartenders in India, spins bottles leaving onlookers applauding. She stood first at the recent Bacardi Martini Grand Prix regional finals (Mumbai 2006), going on to be the only female finalist at the national finals. A pioneer in what has been a male-dominated profession; Ami is establishing a niche for herself in the field of ‘flair’ bartending. She started when she was 18, and has been doing this for three years. She says she has no mentor, although there are many other bartenders who inspire and impress her.
When asked about how it is to be in the profession that she currently is in she says, “It is tough as people do turn and look at me as though I were out of place. But I feel it is easy in a way because you are stepping into an industry where you will stand out naturally, so there is more demand. You do get difficult people, some may discourage you, and some men even pass comments that are you know! But no occupation guarantees success. Its how you carry yourself that counts and I have no regrets.”
Women such as them have pierced into the primitive thoughts and perceptions of the society and its grotesque ignorance, as they have torn to pieces people’s age-old habitual prejudices.
Also by surya
- Quizzing - Passion, art and career - August 24th, 2007
- Disabled by the system - June 20th, 2007
- Broken People - April 29th, 2007
- Alone in the City - January 16th, 2007
- A Different Love - December 4th, 2006
Great article!!!!!!!!!!!!!