“Especially in small cities, towns and villages, if a woman does something that most men do, she has to face a lot of criticism. Such thinking is common even in Jammu, but I still chose to do this job,” said Seema, a resident of Nagrota, a suburb in Jammu district, who is quite popular on social media these days.
Seema is married and has a son (15) and two daughters aged 14 and 11. She drives an e-rickshaw and is the first woman from the region to do so, for which she is getting a lot of appreciation on social media.
“While my husband also works, given the rate of inflation, I also decided to work for better education and training of my children. I drive an e-rickshaw. My family members had to listen to a lot of taunts for my choice of profession but they have always stood by me, Seema said.
Seema, who feels no job is small, doesn’t subscribe to the thought of limiting women to only a few jobs.
“Women today drive trains, fly aeroplane, so why can’t I drive an e-rickshaw,” she asked, adding, “I was in 9th grade when my parents got me married. I was fond of reading, but I couldn’t pursue my studies. Now I want to give my daughters higher education.”
On December 2020, a woman named Pooja Devi from Kathua had become the first woman from Jammu and Kashmir to drive a bus and a truck. Now Seema has added another feather to the list of women breaking the glass ceiling in the region.
–IANS