Women domestic workers organised an hour-long visioning exercise to discuss the function and scope of the Resource and Support Centre in Harijan Basti, an informal settlement in Gurugram’s Phase 5 area. They held a brainstorming session about the social enterprise they want to set up in the Resource and Support Centre. The purpose of the discussion was also to ask women about their expectations from the Resource and Support Centre.

Some of the social enterprise ideas they discussed were:

  1. Sattu-making, as sattu is something which is used extensively by people in the Basti, in cooking, in making litti, etc. It was discussed that since sattu is prominent in the diet of Bihar, and many women in Harijan Basti hail from Bihar, starting a business of sattu-making could serve the demands in the community.

  2. Another idea that was discussed was to make seasonal pickles – ‘achaar’ – which can be sold throughout the year.

  3. Women domestic workers also talked about selling packed foods like papad, mathri, nimki, mangori, etc, as these will require less time to make and can stay fresh for up to 6 months.

  4. Women also discussed embroidery and handicrafts as avenues for business.

Beyond the discussion of business ideas, women discussed the safety concerns that would come up when starting their businesses or going outside for working. They discussed that they can’t sit at their stalls in the evening because they feel unsafe with the crowd. “Mauhal kharaab rahta hai shaam ko (The general atmosphere is bad in the evening)”, said one of them.

Other women also said that there were no good health facilities around. Most will charge more money that these women can pay. They said they are scared of falling ill on the job due to the heavy financial burden that their medical bills will put on them. “Jitna kamayenge nai utna doctor ko de denge (Whatever we earn will go to the doctor)”, said one of the women. Hence they expect that the Women’s Resource and Support Centre will provide free or affordable medical consultations.

The visioning exercise was very helpful for the women. One of the women domestic workers said “I thought I have forgotten that I know anything apart from cleaning and cooking. Today after talking to my other friends I again revisited my hobbies of stitching and embroidery.”