Rising from the ashes: A jeweller’s gift to women, by women

Manoj Chakraborty

If the pandemic wreaked havoc across continents, impacting every life, women got the raw deal again. Now that their work life is taking up a little more time, it has changed the professional and domestic balance. Tagging with this are the reported cases of physical and mental abuse during lockdown. Jalgaon based Rantalal C Bafna Jewellers took note of the trend and decided to do something to address the situation — a talk show by influential women.

Speaking about the initiative, Abhishek Bafna of Ratanlal C Bafna Jewellers said, “Women were most affected by the lockdown. They single-handedly took care of the increased responsibilities at home, all the while managing their professional lives too. This piles on stress. So, we organised the talk show to empower them and boost their morale. It was an honest effort to do something for them.”

The jeweller recently ran a series of Marathi talk shows for women at their Kolhapur store.

Called ‘Jilo Jindagi’, it had four influe-ncers talk about women-centric issues. With social distancing norms in place, the initial plan was to live-stream the show on various social media platforms. Later, they decided to record the show, break it into four segments, and present it as a series on the jeweller’s official Youtube channel.

The pandemic saw more women lose jobs when compared to men. In the first segment, titled ‘Women empowerment and development’, the mother-daughter duo of Neelam More (moderator) and Priyanka More (speaker) talked about the importance of value added skills that help in tiding over difficult times.

In the second segment, titled ‘How to live a happy family life’, Dr Shubhada Diwan talked about the issues that come up for a working wife during the pandemic. She emphasised on division of domestic chores between the man and a woman to cruise through these challenging times.

Speaking on ‘Optimism in life’, RJ Ayesha talked about the importance of restarting a career after marriage. She told everyone her story of becoming a radio jockey after she got married.

“Marriage should not spell the end of dreams for a woman, but a path to new success,” she said.

The segment titled ‘Women’s mental health’ had Dr Kaveri Chougule speak about the importance of mental health for a woman. She addressed the rise in domestic violence during the pandemic and how it affected women, who are still the more vulnerable section of the society.

Abhishek said the topics resonate with most women today and would give them the strength and confidence to stand up for themselves. “Many women across Maharashtra personally called us and appreciated the initiative. The session on mental health was a success, as it is often overlooked.” Every segment got more than 1,000 views, said Abhishek. “The number is increasing. We are overwhelmed with the response,” he said.

Courtesy: As Published in The Retail Jeweller India magazine