Sukarma Foundation Is Empowering Rural Women In India Through Sewing, Tailoring

A significant number of rural women in India are uneducated, economically weak and mostly depend on the male members of their family for their basic needs. At this time, sewing and tailoring is one such skill that helps such women to work from their homes while balancing their role as homemakers.

Keeping in view the same, Sukarma Foundation, a volunteer-driven non-profit organisation, has set up a "Sewing Training Centre" to make women self-sufficient and confident in Madhya Pradesh.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, women were the worst affected when it comes to unemployment and poverty. Without any income of their own, they depend on men for everything. If the men are also unemployed, the matter gets worse. Women empowerment through self-reliance and financial independence can be achieved by providing vocational training, through which women can either start up something of their own or take- up a job," the foundation shared with The Logical Indian.

"Tailoring is something which women can immediately start right from their homes upon completion of their course," it stated.

Women and girls who are interested are trained for tailoring. The course duration is 3 to 6 months for basic cutting and sewing. Furthermore, the participants can progress to the next level of training in detailed art and creativity. The target group is primarily women who lost their job as maids, clerks, or shopkeepers during the pandemic.

Starting with one sewing centre with 10 sewing machines and 100 students in Sainkheda in Madhya Pradesh's Narsinghpur district, it has now expanded to 950 women and girls from rural villages.

"So far, we have trained 950 women and girls since March 2021 at our Sainkheda centre. We are continually taking more batches every month. Thank you to our donors and supporters for making strong independent women in our society," the organisation commented.

Improving Lives Of Rural Women

Earlier, Sukarma Foundation has also improved the lives of rural women by educating them about the importance of sexual health and female hygiene, empowering them through employment opportunities via sustainable businesses, providing telemedicine facilities to people in remote areas, making basic education available to children and adults from impoverished sections of the rural population.

So far, the organisation has achieved many things in terms of awareness in tribal villages, towns, colleges, and girls' hostels. Now, people have started talking about periods, listening to conversations about menstrual hygiene and reproductive issues without any hesitance. It also conducted a "PADWOMAN awareness campaign" in 15 districts, reached out to approximately 20,000 girls and women from 10,000 different villages in a radius of around 8000 kilometers.

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