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Brands Discover Events Newsletter More The Captable SMB Story HerStory Social Story Enterprise Story The Decrypting Story YS life YS Hindi YS Tamil YSTV FOLLOW US Daily Newsletter Subscribe By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Brands Discover Events Newsletter More FOLLOW US Sign In Founder first Just In Brands Resources YSTV Events Newsletter Stories Brands Resources Stories General In-Depth Announcement Reports News Funding Startup Sectors Women in tech Sportstech Agritech E-Commerce Education Lifestyle Entertainment Art & Culture Travel & Leisure Curtain Raiser Wine and Food YSTV Advertise with us Woman Entrepreneur MEET THE WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR GIVING ‘OVERQUALIFIED HOUSEWIVES’ JOBS AND FINANCIAL FREEDOM FOUNDER OF CHENNAI-BASED STARTUP OVERQUALIFIED HOUSEWIVES, SANKARI SUDHAR AIMS TO HELP QUALIFIED WOMEN REJOIN THE WORKFORCE BY CONNECTING THEM TO COMPANIES THAT UNDERSTAND THEIR NEED FOR FLEXIBILITY. Rekha Balakrishnan1734 Stories Monday March 18, 2024 , 6 min Read FOLLOW US A qualified software engineer, Sankari Sudhar was working with an IT major when her life took a turn and she had a child during the pandemic. Though her organisation supported her, juggling work and motherhood left Sudhar listless, tired and unable to cope. Add to that recovering from C-section birth and dealing with post-partum depression, which left her overwhelmed. Sankari Sudhar, Founder, Overqualified Housewives So, Sudhar decided to quit after eight years of working as a techie and focus on the home turf. However, things got worse. “When I decided to quit and take a break, I thought everything would be alright. But every day came with the feeling that I was wasting my potential by not doing anything. I felt a strange sense of emptiness,” Sudhar, who graduated from Madras Institute of Technology, tells HerStory. She started looking for flexible work options but not many companies were willing to hire her. She also scouted through freelancing websites but there was immense competition. “I used to be angry and emotional all the time. But one day, I read a piece in a newspaper that said India has the highest number of Overqualified Housewives in the world. I understood I was not alone. These are the invisible women with very few opportunities coming their way,” she says. When discussing it with her peers, she realised that many women were in a similar situation and at their wit’s end wondering why their qualifications were of no use. Sign up for our exclusive newsletters. Subscribe to check out our popular newsletters. * indicates mandatory fields “Everyone talks of accountability of resources, attrition, and people not committed [to their work], but there are so many women who are qualified for jobs and willing to work hard and take ownership; only if they had some leeway with flexibility. If companies are ready to offer the flexibility of time and place, we can connect them with skilled women ready to commit to the opportunity,” she explains the genesis of Overqualified Housewives. Launched in August 2022, Overqualified Housewives has provided opportunities to over 600 women to date and upskilled 2,500 women to reenter the workforce. Over 26,000 women have registered on the platform and it connects them with 600 companies, mostly startups and SMEs. Most loved story -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 70% women say poor work-life balance obstacle to career growth: Hero Vired survey FIGHTING THE MOTHERHOOD PENALTY Starting out, Sudhar got some leads using LinkedIn where she had built her personal brand. However, not all companies showed the same commitment towards women. “Some thought that since it was a women-only platform and women were looking for jobs, they could offer very low pay. One person who approached me said he was looking for a content writer and would pay Rs 5,000 a month. There were others looking for resellers or insurance sellers,” she says. But one thing was clear right from the beginning. Sudhar wouldn’t entertain jobs like data processing, reselling or insurance buying on her platform. Nor would she onboard clients who offered to pay far less than the women deserved. Started with roles like content writing, graphic designing, social media management, digital marketing, customer service roles, and admin operations, the platform now offers jobs in business development, testing, project management, and others. “We offer both freelancing and full-time options but it again depends on the woman’s interest. If she can give 8-9 hours of her time, her application will be processed in a different way,” she adds. She notes that most companies return to recruit more women. Other than LinkedIn, Overqualified Housewives uses other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to onboard women looking for jobs. “The process is simple. Interested women can register on our website along with their resume, listing out their experiences and other details and reasons for the career break. Depending on the data and whenever there is a requirement and a skillset match, we call them for a connect,” she elaborates. She reveals that there are women with PhDs looking for jobs on the platform, which breaks her heart. “If they choose education or certain industries, they don’t get the flexibility they are looking for. They are also underpaid. Then there are the women who are allowed to study, but not go outside and work,” says Sudhar. UPSKILLING IS IMPORTANT According to her, women are unable to find work even after being “overqualified” because of the mindset of women being the “nurturer, carer and giver” and their primary duty to care of her children. While companies offer maternity benefits, some also believe that women become less committed to work once they have children or take a break. Some companies even reject profiles when they see women had babies or children. Sudhar admits that it takes time to find jobs for certain roles, sometimes even months before women find something that matches their requirements. This is where upskilling helps. Overqualified Housewives organises regular sessions with experts from different fields to help women gain new knowledge and skills to navigate the workforce after a break. JOBS AND FINANCIAL FREEDOM Platforms like Overqualified Housewives help women not only find jobs but also enable them to reclaim their self-confidence which usually takes a beating during a long break from the workforce. Bhagyashree calls herself an overqualified housewife with an engineering degree. Placed in an IT major after college, she had to quit because of family pressure to get married. Seven years later, she found herself struggling to find her self-worth. She tried her hand at tutoring but lack of timely payments dampened her spirits. “I came to know about Overqualified Housewives and registered on the platform. I was not sure of what I was looking for, but the team hand-held me at every step to help me find a job that matched my qualifications and expectations. They arranged an interview with a client and I got a chance to start my career from scratch,” she says. Ashkar Gomez, Founder of Chennai-based martech company 7 Eagles, has placed three women from the platform as interns. After this period, they will be absorbed as full-time employees. “The women are hard-working and eager to learn. For a month, they were trained on various functions with the team leads guiding them. We look for women who are passionate about rejoining the workforce and are already talking about their skills, intentions and abilities on social media. We are open to recruiting more women from the platform,” he says. Sudhar wants to onboard more women and businesses onto the platform and also focus on upskilling and reskilling programmes. She also wants to guide women to start their own businesses. “This will enable them to recruit more women and create a self-sustaining ecosystem,” she signs off. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edited by Kanishk Singh Advertise with us women in the workforce job opportunities YS Exclusive Advertise with us MOST VIEWED STORIES 1 News Blinkit expands to Jammu. Here's where it will deliver 2 In-focus Biryani, tyres, electricity bills: What Indian startups worked on in 2024 3 Books Warren Buffett's essential reading list for investors 4 Startup Ecosystem Encubay and inDrive Present the Women Technology Summit: Empowering, Inspiring, and Connecting India's Women Tech Leaders 5 Edtech Baron Capital slashes BYJU’S valuation by 99.85% Advertise with us Advertise with us RECOMMENDED STORIES FOR YOU daily-capsule STARTUPS IN FOCUS; THE WOMEN WHO DEFINED 2024 December 30, 2024, 5 min Read herstoryys-community EMPOWERING WOMEN THROUGH TECHNOLOGY: BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE AND SKILLED GLOBAL WORKFORCE December 30, 2024, 3 min Read in-focus BIRYANI, TYRES, ELECTRICITY BILLS: WHAT INDIAN STARTUPS WORKED ON IN 2024 December 30, 2024, 8 min Read herstorystories CELEBRATING THE WOMEN WHO DEFINED 2024 December 29, 2024, 8 min Read ys-in-depth REWIND 2024: AI DOMINATION, QUICK COMMERCE HEAT, PROFIT CHASE TRIUMPHED INDIAN STARTUPS December 29, 2024, 9 min Read socialstorystories CLIMATE ACTION, LGBTQIA+ INCLUSIVITY: STORIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE THAT SPARKED CONVERSATIONS THIS YEAR December 27, 2024, 7 min Read news STARTUP NEWS AND UPDATES: DAILY ROUNDUP (DECEMBER 26, 2024) December 26, 2024, 4 min Read productivity 5 THINGS YOU MUST STOP DOING BEFORE 2025 FOR SUCCESS December 26, 2024, 3 min Read BRANDS The CapTable HerStory Social Story Enterprise Story The Decrypting Story YS Life YS Hindi YS Tamil TOPICS practo microsoft ola swiggy zomato uber delhivery amazon cred nykaa RESOURCE HUB Glossary Everything AI How-to’s knowledge base Opinion UPCOMING EVENTS DevSparks Pune SheSparks DISCOVER List Your Startup Startup Spotlight Pitch To Us Browse Startups YS BUZZ Start your day with impactful startup stories and concise news! 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