After the Police Department, the Postal sector in the State is now ready with its all-woman brigade.
At PMG Junction in the capital city, Kerala’s first all-women post office has opened its doors to the public. Its four employees, from the post master to the helper, are women. The post office will only be officially be inaugurated on Friday, but it has already caught the public eye, with its staff — post master S. Shanthi, postal clerk R. Manju, stamp vendor C. Chandrika, and helper Latha Kumari — gaining star status among the customers. Congratulatory messages and sweet packets are pouring into the post office, and so are best wishes notes, the staff members say.
“We are overwhelmed by the response from the customers who always have a word of encouragement for us. We understand that they also expect us to be more service oriented and hope to gain more loyal customers through our service”, explains Ms. Shanthi, who has been in the postal service for 31 years.
The post office is part of a national initiative to set up all-women post offices to empower women and encourage gender equality in various sectors. The first such office was inaugurated at Shashtri Bhavan in Delhi on March 8, International Women’s day. Since then similar post offices were started in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh.
Senior Superintendent, Thiruvananthapuram (North Division), A. Remadevi says the all-women post offices will have all the facilities available in regular post offices.
