Solutions Festival | Community Action Project Presentation on Women Workers’ Rights

At the Solutions Festival, participants of School for Social Transformation (SST) 8.0 continued to present community-driven ideas rooted in lived realities. The next presentation was by Sandra Ravi, who introduced her Community Action Project titled “Standing for Dignity and Equal Rights of Women Workers in SM Street.”

About the Project

Sandra’s project is centred on SM Street (Sweet Meat Street), Kozhikode, one of Kerala’s oldest and busiest commercial hubs, known for its traditional shops and vibrant street life. For decades, SM Street has supported the local economy and provided employment to a large number of women workers, especially in retail and sales.

Despite its economic importance, many women working here continue to face poor and undignified conditions: unequal wages compared to men, denial of the right to sit during long working hours, lack of toilet facilities, and unsafe or harassing work environments. These long-standing issues affect their health, dignity, and equality, revealing the gap between labour laws and everyday realities in informal urban workplaces.

The Proposed Solution

The project proposes forming an informal collective of 5–10 women workers to negotiate for basic rights such as fair wages, the right to sit, and safe, dignified working conditions. Sandra outlined plans to conduct awareness sessions on labour rights, facilitate access to basic facilities, and organise skill upgradation programmes to strengthen confidence, employability, and bargaining power.

The initiative will be supported through collaboration with students (NSS/NCC volunteers), local NGOs, women’s rights activists, and CSR partners. Activities include trust-building field visits, collective formation, awareness drives, documentation of issues, and fundraising outreach.

Why It Matters

This presentation highlighted how dignity at work is a fundamental right, not a privilege. Sandra’s project brings attention to the everyday struggles of women in informal labour spaces, where rights often remain on paper but not in practice.

By enabling collective negotiation and awareness, the project shifts women from isolated vulnerability to shared strength, reinforcing that equality is built through solidarity.

A Step Forward

As part of the Solutions Festival, this presentation stood as a commitment to justice in everyday workplaces. By building collectives, enabling skills, and advocating for basic facilities, the project lays the foundation for safer, fairer, and more respectful work environments, where women are seen, valued, and treated with dignity.