It is a drizzly morning in Edakkattuvayal, 30 km off Kochi. Five women in uniforms are busy moving concrete bricks and cementing them to build the outer wall of a small hill-top house. And helping them with less complicated tasks are three men.

This is a dramatic gender role reversal for the construction industry, and not just in Kerala. Women workers are usually at the bottom of the pecking order, below male masons and bricklayers, and paid little. But, thanks to Kudumbashree, the Kerala government's poverty-reduction programme, women have become skilled workers and supervisors.............Read more

Source web page: The Times of India