27 October A matter of. The dead body of the wife of a businessman Rahul Gupta was found buried in DM Awas Campus, Kanpur. His gym trainer was accused of murder. The next day on 28 October, a meeting of the UP Women Commission was held in Lucknow. A proposal was made to allow women to enter gyms and yoga centres.
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However, boutique and gym owners do not agree with the guidelines of the Commission. Boutique owners say that customers have more confidence in Masterji's stitching. Want to get work done from them for big orders. Gym owners believe that finding a female trainer is not easy. Even if found, it is expensive to keep them.
How practical is it to actually follow these guidelines? What kind of problems will have to be faced in implementing or getting this done? Dainik Global News Daily reached the ground to know how salon, boutique and gym operators view this proposal of the Commission. We spoke to salon, boutique, and gym owners and common people.
First of all, talk about boutique owners and tailors… Boutique owner said – Customers have more trust in 'Master Ji'. Shikha runs a boutique in Noida. She says, 'I am an IT professional, but have been running a boutique for 20 years. I have a staff of 8 people. All are men. While hiring a tailor, I take his skill test. In my career so far, I have not seen any woman who can stitch and give perfect clothes. This is a mail-dominated industry.
'Right from the beginning, in the society, only men do outside work. The girls have been doing household work. It is possible that in some cases women may have been molested, but in 99% of the cases no tailor touches the woman inappropriately. They also need work. Have to earn money. No one will do anything that puts his livelihood in danger.
Shikha says, 'When queens and empresses could give their measurements to male tailors, then what problem would today's modern woman face? If hiring of women staff is made compulsory, then it will take time for me to believe how perfectly they will be able to work. This will also affect our budget.
Tailoring work requires practice, it is not easy for women to do it Vinod Kumar Rai, resident of Bihar, has been doing tailoring work for 22 years. Currently living in Noida and earns Rs 25 thousand per month.
Vinod says, 'Women are not able to do tailoring work as well as men. Most of the boutiques are run by women, but they do not know how to sew clothes. Our job is to make clothes by taking the measurements of the female customer. We are not concerned with their bodies.
'Women cannot do high-fashion work. It takes 5-6 years to learn how to use a needle in tailoring. Men can learn work by living anywhere and from anyone. Women can't do this. Tailoring is a work of practice. You will have to devote 10 to 12 hours daily. Then the hands will be clean.
Regarding the proposal of UP State Women's Commission, Vinod says, 'How many tailors might have done wrong things to women. Even if you exclude Taylor, there is even more crime in other areas. What will we do there? Remove everyone, only women will work.
More girls in sales, no women in tailoring work Sumit Chhabra from Noida has been in tailoring work for 10 years and is running a shop. Regarding the low number of women staff at the shop, he says, 'I have been working in this sector since 1997. My father was also a tailor. I have never heard that any female customer has asked about giving measurements to a female tailor.
'I believe that the presence of girls brings discipline among all the employees in the shop, but there are less girls in this profession. Girls come for sales or cash counter jobs. She does not do tailoring work.
Now let's talk about female staff in beauty parlors and salons… It is very difficult to find female makeup-artists and hair stylists. Akshita Singh runs her own salon in Noida. She says, 'There is a staff of 17 people in my salon. There are only four girls among them. There have always been men in this industry. Female staff take great care of hygiene, hence they do not like to do shaving and hair cutting of male customers. She doesn't even feel comfortable.
'I tried many times to find a female hairstylist, but there is a shortage of them in the market. I have been running the salon for 7 years. No female customer has ever complained about bad touch. Mail staff have always been doing pedicures.
Akshita further says, 'If a female customer comes at night, I stay in the salon till the work is over. Otherwise there is always some female staff in the salon.
Boys will be removed from gym, salon or spa, but how will they stop crime on the streets? UP State Women Commission has talked about curbing crime through this proposal. On this Akshita says, 'Crime is not happening only in gyms, salons or spas. It is happening on the streets too. Will boys be picked up from the road or will only girls be able to go? Crime can be controlled in a closed space. There is a need to think more about the crimes happening on the streets.
'If we look at it from business point of view, most of the salons are unisex. Both men and women come here to take service. Girls get waxing done every two or three months. Men come every week or month for shave and cutting. There are always more mail customers.
'There are many other ways to provide employment to women. Even if hiring of women staff is made compulsory, we will still be able to hire so many girls. There will be very few girls in this industry.
Bad touch is not gender based. Women can commit crimes as much as men. It is not right to link it to any gender.
Mostly male staff for makeup and haircut in salon Prashant Jha, a hair stylist and makeup artist working in Noida, says, 'I have been doing makeup for women for the last 7 years. I also cut his hair. Mostly only male staff work in the salon. It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of female customers. There is a trust between them and us.
'We keep some things in mind while haircut and hair colouring. The seats are adjustable. Let's fix it at the right height. While cutting hair, we take care not to touch the hands, ears or neck. Try to keep contact to a minimum even during make-up.
He further says, 'There are job opportunities for women in this sector as well, all the beauty services are done by women only. There is no mail staff in it. Both makeup and hair-styling are work of skill. The customer will get the work done by whichever man or woman does it better.
'We have always seen only male staff in the salon. We come into this industry only after seeing men. Now times are changing. Girls themselves are less likely to enter this field. Nowadays, there are female hairdressers in every salon and female trainers in every gym. Therefore, there is no need for such a proposal.
Request comes for female trainers, but it is expensive to hire them Rahul, owner of Elite Gym in Noida, says, 'My gym has been running for 5 years. At my place, men and women train together, do Zumba and yoga. We have a female trainer here, who teaches Zumba. The remaining two are male trainers. We get online queries that they want to learn from a female trainer.
'If the female trainer comes, then those people will also come to the gym. However, hiring another female trainer along with the gym rent is expensive. My gym runs from morning till evening. No complaint has been received till date.
Rahul says, 'When we have exercise, men stand behind and women stand in front. Many times a woman's shirt rises up during training. So we tell us to tuck-in the shirt, but sometimes even we feel uncomfortable saying this.
Now let's talk about common people i.e. customers… never faced any problem in giving measurements, have faith in master's work. We have also talked to some girls and women regarding this proposal. Shikha says, 'When I go to get clothes stitched, I never feel uncomfortable. I will not discriminate between men or women. Masterji has been making our clothes for many years. A trust has been built with them.
'If now a female comes in place of Master ji, then it will be a question whether she will be able to stitch the clothes with proper fitting. Talking about gym, one male trainer trains five girls. A female trainer will hardly be able to train five girls. Even if we become uncomfortable during any exercise in the gym, we call a female trainer.
She further says, 'Crimes are also happening inside the house. Where will we replace men with women? It is also not right to snatch away men's jobs and give them to women. Men will be removed to employ women in gyms or salons. In such a situation, who will take the expenses and responsibility of his family?
Found here Siddhi Dwivedi says, 'Whenever I went to Taylor's, I never felt uncomfortable. Most women take a friend or relative with them. Even if he goes alone, I have never heard of him facing any problem. At the same time, CCTV is installed in places like gyms.
'Crime cannot be stopped by replacing men with women. There are different reasons behind crimes against women. Someone may step out of the gym and commit a crime.
Women Commission's order after Kanpur massacre UP State Women Commission Chairperson Babita Chauhan had said in the press conference regarding the proposal that during the public hearing, incidents related to men are coming in gyms, beauty parlors and boutiques. 99% of the women's trainers at the gym are men. Many such incidents happen there. Women or small girls tolerate it. Can't tell after coming home.
Recently a similar incident happened in Kanpur, in which a gym trainer killed a woman. Such cases are also coming to the fore in which it has even reached the point of divorce. There should be female trainers for women in the gym. This will also provide employment to women.
We tried to talk to Babita Chauhan after talking to gym, boutique and salon operators and people, but could not contact her. The story will be updated as soon as their reply is received.
In UP, male tailors will not be able to take measurements of women, order of Women's Commission after Kanpur massacre
Graphics Source: NavJivanIndia | VaskarAssets | NavBharatTimes
