Stories of Skilled Women from Tata STRIVE

Preeti Dohane, Facilitator (Electrician), Mumbai

This is the story of Preeti, an Assistant Electrician facilitator at Tata STRIVE, Mumbai, — a female trainer in a male dominated field!

As an introvert, it was very difficult for her to stand in front of people and talk. When Preeti was a student, she never spoke to any of her male peers. So, training a batch full of male learners, that too in a field that is male dominated was a challenging task. She frequently faced doubt and discrimination from learners & peer professionals. Their lack of confidence about her skills, capabilities and knowledge was evident in every interaction.

‘How can a female teach electrical domain skills!?’ was the constant question that she continues to face. Besides this, there were other social challenges as well. Objections from peers and seniors, colleagues as well as family and friends were a constant deterrent in her endeavor.  The field is highly male dominated. In one of the institute’s where she taught for a while, she recalls that – there was no washroom for females as it was not needed…there were no women at all!

Even today acceptance in classroom while conducting sessions is a challenge. Her gender invokes doubts about her competence. Learners often cross question to test her. She recalls a scene where one of the learners challenged her to open a new motor which typically has screws that are tightly fixed. He thought that she would not be able to open it, but she demonstrated the activity nonchalantly. Then he started asking many questions to trouble her and test her patience. There are however some occasional silver linings. Once, when the results of one of her batches were out, she was shocked as all of them failed.

She thought of resigning from the job as she thought it was all her fault. They did not learn anything from her during the whole course!  She was devastated and on the verge of quitting. It was one-month turmoil for all of them. A month later, the examination authorities informed that it was an error due to some technical issues and that all the learners had passed the exam! It was a relief beyond measure and a validation of her skills and efforts.  

It is her ‘never give up attitude, excellent training and experience’ that has enabled her to deal with these issues. What keeps her going is her inspiration – her mother. Even though not very educated, her mother taught her early in life that ‘Life will not always offer you what you want… never give up and keep going, keep working on your dreams and believe in yourself.’ Her immense faith and confidence in Preeti helped her achieve success in her endeavors.