A widow, a toddy shop and a fight to break Kerala’s glass ceiling

In July 2024, when she first approached a toddy shop where her late husband had worked in Thrissur district’s Irinjalakuda toddy range, Sophy Kunjupalu was turned away – women couldn’t be employed there because of the law. Instead of accepting it, Sophy chose to fight back, taking the battle for her right to work to court.

As Keralam celebrates the 70th anniversary of its formation on November 1, Sophy’s win assumes particular significance – it helps break the glass ceiling in a workplace long considered male-dominated and unsafe for women.

But for Sophy, a native of Ponjanam in Thrissur who will join the toddy shop either as a saleswoman or manager, the court case wasn’t a grand gender battle. It was a more fundamental fight for survival — workers in the toddy sector earn between Rs 35,000 and Rs 45,000 a month, depending on sales.

“Last year, the court had directed the labour department to intervene in my case, and I was given a job at a toddy shop for two months. Then trade unions protested against employing women. At this age, I will not get any other job. I have to feed the family,” Sophy, whose daughter is pursuing a CA course and son is in Class 12, says.

Sophy’s choice

In July 2024, two months after her husband’s death, Sophy approached the shop, hoping to secure a job on compassionate grounds since her husband had worked there.

But her request was turned down under Rule 7(37) of the Kerala Abkari Shops and Disposal Rules, 2002, which regulates liquor and toddy shops and prohibits the employment of women in toddy shops.

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“The licensee was not ready to give a job, and the various male-dominated trade unions also opposed it. They said there is no provision to give a job for a woman in the sales section of a toddy shop. Women who did get jobs here were stuck at the back of the toddy shops to clean the utensils. I needed it to support my family.”

Sophy petitioned the High Court in August 2024. Opposing the petition, the government argued that toddy shops are often situated in remote places and that the rulemaking authority was bound to ensure women were not employed there to safeguard their safety and well-being.

After 28 rounds of hearings, the court held that the provision violated constitutional provisions, rejecting the government’s argument that the rule was intended to protect women.

“While the state has an obligation to ensure that women are not subjected to harassment and must have a safe environment to work, such a responsibility on the state machinery cannot be achieved by prohibiting women from working in whatever industry they choose to work,” said a single bench of Justice P Gopinath.

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The court said it was not possible to conclude that the impugned rule was either justified in principle or proportionate in nature.

“Instead of prohibiting the employment of women in toddy shops altogether, the State should focus on factoring in ways through which unequal consequences of sex differences can be eliminated, and it should also ensure circumstances of safety which inspire confidence in women to work wherever they want and choose any profession they want,” it said.

The ruling comes more than a decade after the Kerala High Court struck down Rule 27A of the Kerala Foreign Liquor Rules, which barred the employment of women in bars and retail shops dealing in Indian-made foreign liquor. The decision led to scores of women being recruited or deputed to work at IMFL retail outlets across the state.

According to Kerala Toddy Workers Welfare Fund Board chairperson N V Chandrababu, the state has 4,324 toddy shops with a workforce of 21,000.

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“She (Sophy) is going to be the first woman to work at a toddy shop,” he says. “Keralam has one woman toddy tapper (from Kannur) who joined the sector after her husband died. Among the 21,000-odd workers, there are around 200 women who are engaged in cleaning jobs.”

Sophy, who has completed a lab technician course, believes toddy shops are no more dangerous than other workplaces. Her father, too, worked at a toddy shop, she says.

“Which job sector is completely safe for women?” she asks. “In most toddy shops, the regular customers (mostly men) will be people living in the village/panchayat where the shop is located. Both staff and the customers know one another.”