Women get help in carpentry

Kolkata: Furniture making may no longer be a male bastion, not at least, if what Greenply Industries, one of India's largest interior infrastructure brands, is doing is anything to go by. Greenply has taken up the cudgels to break the years nurturned myth, by employing women in carpentry, thereby breaking into a domain dominated by male artisans. The company commanding 26 per cent market share in the organised plywood market, has taken the initiative to train and empower women from a far-flung hamlet of Kerala.

Greenply has partnered with Archana Women's Centre, an NGO based in Kerala that emancipates women from the clutches of the societal servitude and empowers them to strike at the roots of poverty and its consequent ills, and has already identified a team of first women carpenters in India. These women hail from the poorest of villages, with basic, or no education and now they are now being trained in carpentry. Interestingly, the Greenply plant at Tizit employs more than 130 women, which is nearly half the workforce. It also works with a network of over 550 female architects across the country.

"Our partnership with Archana Women's Centre is to provide expertise in various training programs such as mechanical skill, knowledge about newer techniques and critical thinking skills, which will develop the women workforce to meet all challenges of carpentry. At every phase, we attempt to find ways to empower and include women workforce in our ecosystem, where they can lead the plywood industry forward," said Rajesh Mittal, Managing Director, Greenply Industries (GIL).

Simultaneously with this initiative, to mark the International Women's Day, Greenply, has come up with a campaign #StopSayingWomenCant to celebrate the cause and for others to follow. Significantly, the theme for International Women's Day 2019 is #BalanceforBetter.