From Screenshots to success stories: Tracing the social media usage by women micro-entrepreneurs in India
I come from Gujarat, a state in the Western part of India. According to the local cultural practice, many women become “homemaker”. “Homemaker”, also referred to as a “housewife” is a cultural phenomenon where women — post their marriage, engage in doing household work. The study participants that I interacted with were highly qualified women who took a break from the industry to focus on supporting the post-marital family with everyday household chores. Such a lifestyle choice could be influenced by several factors including socio-cultural norms, care work, etc. Over the years, I have observed the women facing a moral dilemma, immediately after marriage, asking questions like: “Should I quit my job to focus on homemaking duties?” With the evolving adaptation of smartphones in households and the digital platforms that are made available, I am happy to notice a positive change. Earlier there was a dichotomy, women had to choose between being full-time homemaker or working women. Their intellectual interests and aspirations were put to cultural scrutiny post marriage. Things have changed for the better.
In my research, I see examples of homemakers using social media to engage in online business endeavors such as selling dress materials, cosmetics, bags, imitation jewellery, etc. Such businesses operate virtually and thrive on digital advertisements. A typical business transaction involves vendor sending item details to these businesswomen to be forwarded to their social circle through targetted groups. This is followed by enquiry and order is then placed by the customers. The items are finally delivered to the customer’s location. Vendors rely on these intermediaries to ensure trust formation and authenticity within the customer circuit. Social media forms an integral part of each phase of the trade cycle. Cheap data along with the paradigm shift in the perception of “work” in the society at large, is helping women to carve a niche through their passion.
It was interesting to note that the notion of “work” has several layers attached to it and is culturally situated. As observed in the interview responses: during various times of the day, these women juggle with different definitions of work and have to often prioritize complex decisions directly or indirectly influencing family wellbeing. All participants considered children to be one of the major factors behind working/not working full-time. This also underpins the emotional dependence on the mother by the child. There were a few participants who shifted their job domains so as to focus on their children, a trait not commonly observed among male counterparts. A regular day at “work” involved taking client orders, cooking food, negotiating sales, providing timely medicines to their old parents, confirming the sales payments. Icha*, a participant admitted that her housework had to be completed by noon in order to start with her business work. She consciously placed care work at a higher priority than her business interests citing a “family first” approach. Pratibha*, on the other hand, is on a constant search for a WhatsApp notification from any potential client even while doing household chores. The key takeaway was the use of mobile phones for their business-related work — being influenced by factors like time and family care.
The scale at which their business operates is a noteworthy aspect that drives their social media usage. These women deal with vendors and clients from multiple states within India. Their online network of potential clients spans several WhatsApp groups consisting of 250 participants each. The product and its testimonials are shared through screenshots and other images. Apart from WhatsApp, Facebook groups, Telegram channels form other means of communication with the clients. Support and Guidance for advancing the business are also available over similar channels. With innovation in Information exchange, there have been multiple sources through which the products are marketed. Of these, WhatsApp status, Facebook and Instagram stories constitute a significant chunk.
Such business opportunities available to woman have a positive “domino” effect on other women facing similar challenges. All the participants that I interviewed so far got motivated through some other women in their network. Swadhinta*, one such participant, observed her relatives’ online work, learnt the skills and got motivated to start her own business. Upon reaching out to her husband for consent, she recollected:
“My husband told me that you can’t do it. It’s not your cup of tea, but I convinced him by showing his sister’s WhatsApp story. He was empathetic and supportive from thereon.”
Thus, product images and their testimonial screenshots served a deeper purpose of negotiating work and instilled entrepreneurial spirit. Participants noted a positive response from their family members to start such initiatives. Pratibha shared that her mother-in-law encouraged online business so as to eliminate the need for her to go out for work.
Children emerged out to be the prime factor for women to initiate and engage in micro-entrepreneurship instead of working full-time at a physical office. Previous research has shown that technology-mediated gig jobs provide flexibility to women having children [1]. This was also evident during the course of interviews where their kids roamed around the house. When asked about her mother’s business, Ahaan (6) childishly stated her disinterest in her mother’s business as she had to frequently go out to buy fresh stocks of the dresses, leaving him alone. All the participants mentioned care work for children to be a major factor that eventually led to getting disconnected from the job market. They considered it their familial duty to teach and assist their children in their education journey.
*Names of the participants have been anonymized based on the interview sentiments.
[1] https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3392561.3394635
[2] https://www.hotstar.com/in/tv/mega-icons/1260000382/kalpana-chawla/1260041496
[3] Hewlett SA. Executive women and the myth of having it all. Harvard Business Review. 2002 Apr;80(4):66–73, 125.
[4] Metz, Isabel. “Advancing the careers of women with children.” Career Development International (2005).
Link to Paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E4Bo-6YYZJiPCIC8EXV6dupsXNtSB1UV/view?usp=sharing
Over these interviews and reading up with the relevant literature [3,4], I realized that career progression for married women with children is influenced by asymmetric cultural barriers. Despite such a scenario, it is observed that the girl child of the participants is encouraged to have career aspirations that might not necessarily fit well into the traditional regressive cultural context, one that is dominated by patriarchal structure. This is surely a positive movement brought about by the internet and the possibilities that it promises. I was inspired by a documentary on Kalpana Chawla, India’s first female astronaut [2]. Based on this, I now present my poem - “Udaan”. This poem explores a women’s notion of identity that changes over her age. While pursuing her studies, she is given examples of Kalpana Chawla and Rani Lakshmibai, the female freedom fighter. Later, after marriage, her identity might not always reflect the aspirations that they had while growing up. And while raising a girl child, women see a “Kalpana” in her child. This is in tandem with her notion of putting family over her personal aspirations.
