With its burgeoning youth population and lesser women in the formal sector, India introduced Make in India program to improve the skills of young people. In 2014, the Skill India initiative set out to train 500 million youth, predominantly the rural labor force, for most urban jobs by 2022.
During my Fulbright year (2017- 2018), I researched young women in Odisha who trained as sewing machine operators through Skill Odisha perspective who migrated to work in garment factories catering to the national and international markets (Kingsolver and Pandey, 2019). 60% of these female trainees are from tribal and rural regions of the state and are mostly school dropouts. After a short three-month training, they move to faraway FTZs and adapt to the cities for their jobs, as there is no opportunity for them to work close to home.
These women migrant workers experience struggle and lead precarious life as low-wage workers. It is hard for them to climb up the ladder because of the systemic structure of the work condition. However, migration also provides opportunities for women to escape poverty, enrich their life experiences, acquire new skills, and support themselves and their families.
Due to Pandemic, thousands of textile workers lost their jobs and families, and their lives were altered.
In this paper, based on interviews I have conducted and against the backdrop of my previous research, I will discuss the impact of COVID affecting the textile workers who went to Thirupur and Bangalore and the hardships they faced with loss of their income and mobility. What is their lived experience working in the factories in the aftermath of covid? What are women’s life experiences taking up entrepreneurship opportunities after returning to their village? I will share women’s lived experiences showing that vulnerability and agency can co-exist in their stories.
