KOHALPUR, March 3: As per the roles assigned by the traditional society, men should be engaged in labor, business and wages while the woman should be limited only to household works. However, it seems like the time has changed and the roles have been switched. Women nowadays have started earning and also saving it for future.
They no longer need to spread their hands in front of their husbands or any other person to buy things they need. They have become economically independent. It might be surprising but they even lend money to the male members of their society in the times of need.
Safina Salmani of Daduwa Rural Municipality-4 saves at a committee the money she earns raising goats. There are altogether 25 women in the committee who have collected Rs 500,000 in the last three years by saving Rs 100 per week. "I have raised 15 goats at home and the money I make selling them is deposited at the committee," said Salmani. She said that the members borrow money from the committee at a low-interest rate and use it for various business purposes.
A large number of women from Madhesi communities have been making weekly and monthly savings in various committees. Sabiya Teli of Janaki Rural Municipality-6 said that as many as 30 women make weekly savings in the committee that she is associated with. In less than two years, the committee has collected Rs 154,000. These women have been investing the money collected at the committee in small businesses such as animal husbandry, vegetable farming, and shops, among others.
The committee also lends money to men who are trying to invest in their businesses or go for foreign employment. The trend of saving money in such committees has become common among Madhesi women.
According to Mohammad Siddiqui, the founding chairperson of Fatima Foundation which has long been working for the empowerment of Madhesi and Muslim women of Banke, more such women have started doing income-generating work of late. According to her, the involvement of women in business activities has decreased domestic violence, early marriage and various other social crimes.