Traditionally, women in Indian villages do more than 70% of the domestic and agricultural work. They are responsible for sowing and reaping, fetching water, taking care of children and livestock, cooking, washing and cleaning the house etc. However, their inputs are not regarded as ‘proper’ work. Women are still considered to be the weaker sex, incapable of doing hard physical labour. Barefoot College has endeavored to break such stereotypical notions by training rural women in ‘technically challenging’ jobs that have traditionally been considered for men. Unlike the chauvinistic and patriarchal society, the College recognizes and harnesses the tensile strength, determination and graceful dexterity that rural women already posses, by training and providing them work as Barefoot solar engineers, handpump mechanics, solar cooker engineers, midwives, artisans, weavers, balsevikas, computer instructors, social activists, night school teachers, masons, mets and toy makers. Employment after training in these vocations, have made women financially independent, at least partially if not fully. Considering that it is extremely difficult to bring a change in the notions which have formed a part of the public psyche over centuries, the work done by and for the women, here at the Barefoot College, have been commendable.

The College focuses its efforts on a holistic development of women by empowering them financially, socially as well as politically. As part of their social empowerment, rural women have been organized into groups that collectively support and look out for each other. They struggle and fight for the rights of women or bring justice to those who have been wronged. When more than 5000 rural women get together at a public meeting, rally, strike or demonstration, they can collectively make themselves heard and drive any point home!

Instead of forcing bookish ‘literacy’ onto rural women that will be of little use to them, the College chooses to ‘educate’ them in ‘legal literacy’ that can help solve problems like violation of women’s rights, minimum wages, domestic violence, and Right to Information. As part of their political empowerment, women have been familiarized with the functioning and implementation of justice, public offices, transparency, public hearings and social audits, so that they are aware, comfortable and confident enough to question any political system. Political familiarizations at the grass root level have helped to correct systems that do not work honestly or efficiently.

Women from poor and neglected rural communities, live a life of many hardships. In Africa, an average of 1.6 million women and children die or suffer from respiratory diseases due to toxic smokes, emitted while burning kerosene, coal and wood for cooking and lighting indoors. Women and children living in the deserts of Rajasthan have to walk long distances to fetch water, at least twice a day, usually with more than one earthen or metal pot on their heads. Barefoot College has installed nearly 15,000 solar lighting units and constructed more than a 1000 rain water harvesting structures in remote, rural villages, so that the drudgery of women can be reduced in 16 states of India, and 17 least developed countries across 3 continents. Mothers, grandmothers and young girls who spent hours fetching water, kerosene, wood, candles and torch batteries at high prices can now spend quality time doing other productive work and put the money to better use. The Barefoot approach to women empowerment has brought qualitative changes in their life.

In the past 38 years, the College has trained more than 15,000 women in jobs ranging from construction work, education, metal craftsmanship, toy making and solar engineering, to mechanical repair and fabrication, health care, water testing, handicrafts, film making and social activism. The College has witnessed social changes in the perception of women, particularly in communities with social customs so rigid that they would rather have them starve than go out to work. The Barefoot approach is particularly for those women who are barely literate and who have neither the confidence nor the collective strength to challenge a detrimental social system.