In two years, the start-up Overqualified Housewives has helped over 6,000 women across India find flexible-job roles across India from salaries ranging between Rs 8,000 to Rs 80,000, making them financially independent.
"I never thought it would be so difficult to manage work after having a child.
"I never thought that I'd be taking a career break. But once our son was born, it was a challenge to balance my professional and personal life.
"So I thought: Let me focus on one thing now. That's why I decided to take a career break," Chennai-based engineering professional Sankari Sudhar, who quit her job in the year 2020, to look after her newborn son, tells Divya Nair/Rediff.com.
Sankari, who completed her engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai, had worked for eight years in different MNCs and was earning a nearly six-figure salary before she took the decision to prioritise her son.
"After becoming a housewife, I felt that I was not utilising my full potential. I also saw many of my peers moving ahead in their lives, while I was sitting in the same place, not able to do anything at all with my life."
When Sankari started looking for employment opportunities, there were two challenges. "I had to step out of my home and give eight or nine hours of my time, which was not possible when you have a toddler at home. Or I did not have a particular expertise/skill the job required of me. During this period, I saw a lot of women who were just like me," she says.
"These were women had studied and scored well in college and were successful in their careers when they were younger. But then after marriage or after their babies, they were unable to pursue what they loved once."
Talking about the moments of vulnerability that motivated her to find a solution, she says, "It's easy for women to lose their sense of direction when they are on a career break. I come from a small village in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu.
"I was the first girl from my family to step out of my hometown to study engineering in Chennai. I studied well. I've always been the topper. I went to a prestigious college and worked in big institutions. But during the career break even I started losing my confidence.
"My dad was into business so income was never steady. My mother would stitch blouses to support the family. She has only studied till fifth standard but she so skilled at her job that women would always come back to her. My mother, always emphasised the importance of women becoming financially independent."
Sankari's father was reluctant about her career choice of pursuing technology. It was her mother who coaxed him and supported the daughter. "My parents have always supported me in my career. But when I wanted to restart after having a son, I faced the same challenge other women do. I was a bit surprised when my mom said: 'Do you have to do that now (go to work)?'
They had further questions: 'Why can't you just focus on your baby? He's still so young. What's the need for you to do all these?'
"I told my parents, especially my mother: You are the one who fed me with all those dreams. You said that I could do whatever I wanted to. But now while you are stopping me. I will go mad if I stay in the same place. I want to do something. I promise you I will take care of my son. But it's important for me to have something for myself. I'm doing it for my child also. So it's my decision," Sankari explained.
Launch of Overqualified Housewives
On August 15, 2022, with a little help from her husband, who runs a branding agency, Sankari bootstrapped and founded Overqualified Housewives. It provides training and flexible employment opportunities to qualified women professionals across India and makes them financially independent.
In the last two years, a whopping 34,000 women from across India, including Tier 2 and 3 cities have registered with the organisation. Thousands of women have secured full-time and part-time jobs with salaries ranging between Rs 8,000 to Rs 80,000.
With Overqualified Housewives, Sankari hoped to solve two problems: Firstly, help women find prospective employers who can offer flexible work opportunities and secondly, offer training programmes to make women skilled and employable for jobs that are available.
"It's been 140 years since we got our first female graduate. Though more women are pursuing higher education now than ever before, less than 20 per cent of India's women work at paid jobs. Only 5.4 per cent urban Indian women make any kind of income. Female workforce participation has only been declining in the country.
"We launched on Independence Day (August 15) because the idea was to promote financial independence to women graduates."
The name Overqualified Housewives is assertive, she feels. "I'd read an article from Business Standard which said, India is a country with the highest number of overqualified housewives in the world. Every bit of data I researched said that there is a lot of scope and importance given to girls' education. But when it comes to financial independence, there is a lot of leakage in the pipe."
Sankari describes the societal and cultural influence behind why women vanish from the workforce -- talented women who disappear from jobs after marriage, or after having a baby.
"What happens is women enter the job market early in their careers; they work hard, they grow and do well. Then after marriage or post having children, they start dropping out. Among those who continue (to work), most of them are stuck again in the same place.
"Even if they want to restart, they'll be taking only a meagre job or they'll not take up opportunities that can pay them well, or provide them with a leadership position because they are scared how they are going to balance their family and professional life.
"Meanwhile, there are also women from Tier 3 cities, who want to work, but did not know about skill development or where to pursue it," Sankari explains while also highlighting how at least 50 per cent of Indian graduate women are not financially independent.
The pandemic, Sankari says, also changed work dynamics across the world, proving that remote work is a possibility that can be explored and extended to young mothers and women who cannot travel long hours to work. "While COVID may have made it hard for many women, it also prompted many to think of alternate ways of working."
Even with maternity benefits, Sankari explains why and how organisations must disrupt their work policies to make them more women-friendly.
"It's not like companies are not providing sufficient opportunities for women. Most companies have returnship programmes that expect young mothers to work from the office. That may not be possible for many women especially if they have young children. It's not possible to take out eight hours to go for a job."
Lead By Example: A Unique Business Model
"We talk to businesses and understand their needs. They register with us to provide reliable, flexible opportunities or relevant training and upskilling programmes to these women. That's how we connected businesses with skilled graduate women. We began with SMEs, MSMEs, and startups because they were much more open-minded with the concept of flexibility, and inclusivity."
The next step was to address the cultural gap, raise awareness.
"For example, a man is expected to make money, whereas a woman is expected to take care of her family. We have been conditioned to think in this way. It's not easy for a woman to tell her family that she wants to restart her career or that she wants to get a maid or leave her child in a daycare or take her baby to the daycare facility in her office. It's not that easy."
Sankari further elucidates how returning to work is not the woman’s decision alone. "Without the family’s support, a woman cannot do anything even if she wants to. So we started talking about our women, by showing stories of women who are doing well, homemakers who have successfully restarted their careers.”
But there's still a long way to go.
Saying No To Data Entry Jobs, Yes To Fixed Minimum Pay
Finding appropriate remuneration was the next challenge. "We came across a lot of opportunities where the pay wasn't good enough. For example, there was a requirement wherein a girl had to write for a month and the business was ready to pay Rs 3,000 rupees. And then there were so many reselling opportunities, insurance selling or NGO jobs because we were a women's only platform."
But Sankari had a vision and stuck to it. "One thing we were clear was: We will never say yes to data entry jobs, reselling or insurance selling. Any job we were interested in, had to have a clear structure. We will never say yes to businesses that will pay only incentives. There can be a base pay plus incentive. That's fine. But you cannot pay us only with incentives."
Gradually, business kicked in. "We started with six skill sets like content writing, graphic designing, HR, sales, and marketing following it up with tele-sales and business development. Our motto was like: All the opportunities provided on our platform should be flexible. It could be a full-time job, a remote opportunity or a hybrid one; but it should be flexible enough.
"Some of our first few hires were through word-of-mouth publicity," says Sankari. "After seeing the results, companies would understand the vision of our business. Most of the women we hire have a burning desire to perform. Once they saw the potential of one female employee, businesses were ready to hire more."
Currently, the platform is acting as a 'connection' between businesses and qualified women professionals. By following a thorough process of due diligence and background verification, Sankari and her team aim to reduce the burden on businesses.
"There is no registration fee. Business will be paying us and we will be paying our women. We charge a commission of the income from the business, not from the women. Even if someone gets an opportunity through us, they don't have to pay," she explains.
In the future, they plan to go for a subscription-based model. "There will be an annual subscription for businesses. They can access a certain number of verified profiles in a year. It will be a credit-based system and they can utilise those credits. There will be a one-time charge. So if they are hiring three women professionals, they don't need to pay us every time."
This, Sankari feels, will encourage businesses to hire as many women as possible. While maximum registration is from women who live in South India, there are inquiries from housewives who have settled abroad as well.
The women who register from India are "women from Tier 1 and 2 towns who are qualified and looking for good opportunities. With a bit of upskilling, they can be immediately absorbed into the workforce.
"For women from Tier 3 towns, there is an increased need for upskilling. We cannot just utilise them immediately. For instance, their profile will be very good, but they find it hard to communicate," explains Sankari who has successfully helped approximately 6,000 women upskill. leading them to become potentially employable.
Using Untapped Potential
Overqualified Housewives is solving another key problem.
"Businesses worry a lot about the attrition. Usually people join, then people go, which is a real pain point. Businesses spend a lot of time, energy and money hiring professionals who leave too soon. But here, we are introducing a set of professionals, who with a little more upskilling and a little more flexibility, can do wonders at the workplace."
Sankari wants to utilise this 'untapped potential' and build a marketplace of opportunities with the right mindset.
"We conduct skill development programmes every week where we invite experts from different industries to talk about how to get into a particular industry, what they have to do to acquire those skill sets, etc.
"MNCs are now pitching in and we recently got incubated with NSRCEL (Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, a start-up incubator) at IIM Bangalore. I think this incubation will help us to steer in the right direction and reach the numbers."
The Future: Making Remote Work Normal
Started with an investment of approximately Rs 8 lakhs, most of which, Sankari says, were used to 'build the platform and the company' Overqualified Housewives now comprises an able team of six women, all working remotely from Chennai, Coimbatore, Kochi and Bengaluru.
"I haven't met three of my team-mates yet because they are in different cities," Sankari adds, expounding how she has set a positive example of successful remote work management. Over the past year-and-a-half, the start-up has been able to break even and is looking at strategic plans to expand operations and make profits.
"We were able to meet the expenses within the first three months itself. We are a small team, but our business is taking care of itself and we are now in the growth phase."
Entrepreneurship Isn't Easy, but Leadership is Rewarding
"Of course, there are days when I miss the monthly salary," remarks Sankari, who hasn't had a steady income since turning entrepreneur. "There is no ownership when you are working under somebody. But here, I have to do everything. And whatever you expect may not happen all the time."
Being an entrepreneur, Sankari has realised, is much more interesting than working in a 9-to-5 job. "It is shaping me into a different person where I feel good. I can see myself in a leadership position, a version that was not there when I was working."
Her motivation comes from the very purpose that once led her to become an entrepreneur. "The problem we are trying to solve is important. Whenever I doubt myself, I just think about the people we are trying to serve.
Sharing some of her key learnings, she says: "I have seen that most women, whenever they are on a break or when they want to do something, they just wait for the opportunities until somebody comes to them. They expect that somebody will come and help them. But many a time I've seen some incredible women, instead of waiting for opportunities, they started creating opportunities for themselves."
In her advice, Sankari stresses the importance of skilling and education for women.
"When you are young, it is important to have a good degree and also acquire skills. Financial independence is not just about making money; it's about how it impacts your identity. We will be able to take care of our family in a much better way. It has nothing to do with whether your money is required for your family or not. But it will give you courage that cannot be replaced."
Sankari believes that motherhood has played a significant role in her personal and professional growth.
"Becoming a mother has made me understand who I am as a person at a much deeper level. Probably before motherhood, I never knew that all these things were possible. It is incredible when women can do something great in their second innings, and create something for future generations. Instead of waiting for the opportunity forever, we must try to create one.
"In India, we can see a lot of brands created by mothers and women that are much more inclusive, ethical, and has meaning. These are value-based businesses. Our women have that capability. We just have to figure it out."
*Kindly note the image has been posted for representational purposes only.
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