Meena Raghunathan, Director, Community Services, GMR Varalakshmi Foundation
The skill space in India is at a stage of rapid development and flux. While many issues, like funding for skilling, industry participation, quality standards, etc. are debated in various forums, discussions on the gender dimension in regard to skilling is largely missing. Today, engineering colleges have almost as many girls as boys. But the gender balance with regard to skilling in ‘hard trades’ is likely to be dismal. In fact, it is not even available! Since it is not measured, no one even worries about it. Getting girls into trades like welding, heavy motor repairs, air conditioning maintenance will require huge mindset change—of employers, parents, the girls themselves, and the training institutions. But this is where many jobs are—so it is up to us to make a strong effort. Otherwise, all training for girls will be confined to ‘tailoring-beauty-health services-hospitality-retail-computer data entry’—a minuscule percent of the job roles available.
