International Women’s Day is celebrated on the 8th day of March every year. It is a day when women are recognised for their achievements irrespective of their national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political identity, to build support for women's rights and participation in all arenas of life.

For an organisation such as VFS, whose core agenda is to provide financial support to women entrepreneurs to empower them and make them financially independent, we recognise the ability of women every day. Empowering a woman empowers the entire family, maybe generations.

However, the question remains if we have been able to achieve gender equality across all fields of work. Or do we still have areas where women are not given the chance to make inroads, especially in areas of entrepreneurship? Let us accept that those areas exist.

Now that women entrepreneurship is becoming popular, even at the lower economic strata, I keep a keen eye to check if women are being treated equally in all types of businesses. Whenever the field staff finds an entrepreneur who is trying to start a business that is still perceived as male dominated, they bring it to my notice.

Such is the case of Riya Kar from Hatal, Howrah.

It might be safe to say that mechanical engineering is still a male dominated stream, especially processes related to the workshop. It definitely was, five years ago. So, when Riya applied for a loan to buy a capstan machine, we got another example of gender equality. It is not the first time that we have got a customer in the machine shop business, but they have been very few. Even the single addition of Riya, to the list would mean progress.

Five years down the line, Riya lives in her own house with her husband and a four-year-old son, along with her father-in-law. The family also owns a motorcycle, another sign of prosperity at the bottom of the financial pyramid. She is planning to expand her business from the local factories to Kolkata, and she would have done it by now, but for the COVID-19 pandemic.

When we talk of sustainability, we refer to the three Ps—People, Planet and Profits. And when the United Nations sets this year’s theme as ‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’, Riya Kar seems to be a prime example.