Women drive silver industry in Maharashtra's Hupari town
Female artisans comprise 60 to 70 per cent of the workforce in the ₹1,000 crore annual turnover industry.
Women make up 60 to 70 per cent of the 25,000-strong artisan workforce in Hupari, a town in Kolhapur district, according to The Hindu. The silver industry in this town, which has been active since 1904, generates an annual turnover of ₹1,000 crore.
While men typically handle heavy tasks such as melting silver and soldering frames, women perform delicate work from their homes. These tasks include using jaali filigree techniques to mould silver wires and meenakari enamelling to add colour to motifs.
The town is a prominent producer of seamless silver ghungroos used for traditional anklets. Artisans also produce jewellery such as toe rings and waistbands through painstaking manual labour.
Despite their role, many women earn between ₹200 and ₹250 a day. The piece rate for 2,000 ghungroos is ₹400, though some artisans can complete that amount in a single day.
Dinkar Sase, vice-president of the Chandi Karkhandar Association (Silver Manufacturers Association), said the entire industry rests on the shoulders of women. The association, founded in 1944, only opened membership to female manufacturers in 2014.
Sase noted that the industry currently faces the challenge of meeting the demand for contemporary silver designs from Gen Z consumers.