As we quote the words of Zaha Hadid, a world renowned architect, “Women are always told, ‘You’re not going to make it, it’s too difficult, you can’t do that, don’t enter this competition, you’ll never win it,’ – they need confidence in themselves and people around them to help them to get on.”
Feminism is looked upon with hatred by some people as a part of society still believes that there are certain tasks pre-decided for women from ancient times and woman are only eligible for them. Such tasks include, getting married at right age, taking care of the house, preparing delicious food for inmates of that house, raising children, etc. but every now and then we got to hear some exceptionally inspiring success stories of women who set on a journey of self-discovery and broke all the societal restraints to reach the top of the world.
Today, we present you with one such story of self-recognition of Mrs. Rupali Ushakant Saatpute who is the perfectly justifies women power. In a country like India, there are still some sectors of society where a woman stepping out of the four walls of a home is restrained and earning a living for their family is virtually unheard of. Rupali used to live in such a family with her in-laws, husband, and two children.
Three years ago, she was a simple housewife whose life was revolving around her family and fulfilling her responsibilities. It was never her dream to start a business of her own. But destiny had something for her and now is the time that she has transformed into a successful entrepreneur. Not just her family, but the whole community to which she belonged used to set low eyes on her for joining a tailoring course of her interest at the Animedh Charitable Trust (ACT). She came to knew about the trust through the St. Catherine’s School, where her children are studying. Following the path selected by her heart, she joined a personality development class after completing a three-month course in tailoring in 2013. The personality development classes brought an immense change in her thinking and a change in her personality.
The classes helped her realize the potential and confidence which a working woman carries. All this made her confident about her tailoring skills than she started to turn the things way round. That time, her husband was working in a photo studio, earning Rs. 12,000 a month. Their family of six people was forced to survive on his meager salary. Since then, Rupali had come a long way in her tailoring business and at present, she earns, Rs. 5000 a month to support her husband and provide a better lifestyle for her family and kids. She has been successful in supporting her family monetarily by gaining a stronger position in the household.
Her entire journey from being a normal housewife without any self-opinion to a successful entrepreneur has been remarkable. She truly became a source of inspiration and role model for a lot of people in and outside her society.
Currently, she is the in charge of ACT’s Project Shivan, an incubator that helps women tailor garments in bulk from Government or private factories. Under this project, she is directly mentoring and helping five other women to identify their skills and become entrepreneurs like her.
These days, she is even saving for the higher education of her children. “When I used to step out of the house earlier, I used to feel very scared and used to say ‘What will the neighbors say?’ After I completed the tailoring course, I started stitching clothes for my children and then began to take outside work as well. The first order I took up was to stitch school uniforms and post that I was asked to interview the ladies who were keen on joining the tailoring course. This made me quite confident. I was then offered to take charge of the ACT tailoring project ‘Shivan.’ Tailoring has completely changed my life,” says Rupali.
Ther is a shine of self-realization and self-satisfaction in her eyes while she says, “The main purpose of my life is to give my children a good education, but I had never thought that a housewife like me could have the potential to do this, let alone be an entrepreneur. I wish to expand my business and earn more profit for the education and a better future for my children.”
Like her, there are other women out there who wish to do something, who have the skills to outperform as compared to men but are trapped in the baseless restraints of society, scared of the mere thought that what others will think and what the society will say!
It is a hard time that each and every woman realizes her potential and contributes to the society with her full potential to raise the economic status of their household. Also, the families should start supporting their ladies to work and follow their passion as collectively self-independent men and women can together make this world a better place to live.
