If you look at school toppers, nine out of ten are girls. By Class 12, that number drops to eight out of ten. When they reach college, it comes down to seven. What happens after that is the most worrying part. Only a small fraction of these women enter the workforce. Then come marriage, two children, and gradually, women disappear from public life. This is what is often called the “theory of disappearing women.” By the time they turn fifty, they reappear.
This, says C.K. Kumaravel, co-founder of Naturals Salon, is the reality for most women of our generation. However, he firmly believes the next generation will not accept this pattern. Women in Kerala, in particular, are already moving ahead. He says he has deep respect for women who take control of their lives and shape them on their own terms.
To explain this social reality, Kumaravel uses a striking analogy. “Society is like a bird. Men and women are its two wings. A bird cannot fly with just one wing. For a long time, our society has tried to fly with only one. That is the real challenge,” he says.
He openly states that the world has largely been built by men, for men. But this, he clarifies, is not a conspiracy. It is a result of data bias. Many historical inventions and designs were created without considering women, and that exclusion shaped outcomes.
He points to the history of the piano as an example. Early pianos were designed to suit men better, which is why most early master pianists were men. Women were rarely part of the testing or design process. The same bias existed in seat belt design. Early crash tests used male mannequins and male models. As a result, women, especially pregnant women, suffered greater injuries in accidents. Later, companies like Volvo began collecting data that included women, leading to safer seat belt designs for everyone.
Kumaravel notes that when we think of entrepreneurs or sportspersons, men are usually the first names that come to mind. When we talk about cricket, we think of Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, or Rohit Sharma. But in women’s cricket today, players like Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana have come to the forefront by answering data bias with data itself.
“Data bias can only be corrected with data,” Kumaravel says. That is why women carry a greater responsibility today. Power and responsibility are never handed over. They have to be claimed.
