By March next year, you will find women food delivery executives ringing your doorbell.
Food delivery app Swiggy is hiring 2,000 women across India and breaking the prejudice that the job is male-centric.
Of the 200 women delivery partners now working with the company, only 10 are in Bengaluru.
“Deliveries, for the longest time, have been a predominantly male job. For women, this is a new avenue for earning a stable livelihood. They are slowly trying to overcome stereotypes and pressures,” a Swiggy spokesperson told Metrolife.
To ensure that women have a safe working environment, the company is building separate toilets and identifying ‘safe zones’ to operate in, and limiting their work hours to 6 pm.
Swiggy is also setting up a dedicated helpline for delivery partners and women in managerial roles.
Throwing light on why there aren’t many women delivery executives, the spokesperson says, “The change has begun, and it takes time.”
Puja P Jain, delivery executive, has been working with Swiggy for about a month. She is a BCom graduate and has worked with Ernst & Young as an associate earlier.
“I was always curious about whether women can do this job. So I called up Swiggy and found out they do hire women. This was a new career opportunity and I wanted to experience it,” she says.
She is thrilled with the response she gets from customers and restaurants. “Seeing a woman come to the doorstep to deliver food is a surprise for many and they are extremely supportive. This encourages me,” she says.
Puja operates in Indiranagar from 9 am to 6 pm on weekdays and attends her classes during the weekends.
“The company has been supportive of women delivery partners. They have a point system that can be redeemed for petrol, online shopping vouchers, educational loans, and healthcare,” she says adding that knowing at least three languages is an advantage in Bengaluru.
They earn up to Rs 30,000 a month
A food entrepreneur says, “It is fantastic and a women empowerment sort of move. Women are already leaving their mark in male-dominated fields like bus and auto driving. I think it’s high time we saw a change in the food delivery sector. This job doesn’t require
one to have high educational qualification, and just a knowledge of the local language is enough. Many of the men who now deliver food for apps like Swiggy and Uber Eats earn about Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 a month because of their hard work. Taking up this profession will definitely make women more independent.”