Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Female Riders

You log in to Foodmandu app and order your food. As you wait for it to be delivered, you imagine yourself going and receiving your food in your doorstep. Whom do you imagine when you think of the delivery person?

Yes. I know. When you visualize receiving your order from a person, that person is male.  Whether that is an ad or TV series, males are portrayed as delivery personnel.

In food delivery industry, especially in Nepal, delivery personnel has always been a male. Along with being pioneer in the food delivery industry, Foodmandu stands as the pioneer in breaking the stereotype of the industry as well and has female riders now in its delivery channel. Here, we present the words from the two female riders at Foodmandu: Sital Dawan and Shristi Rijal.

“I am Sital Dawan; currently, a student of Bachelors 4^th year. This is the first job I have ever taken up. It was just a normal day and I was scrolling through my social media wall. As I saw the vacancy for Women Riders in Foodmandu, I was extremely enthused. I applied for it. There was this nervousness of course, because I have never seen a female delivering. By the way, are there female delivery riders? I am not sure. And however, support from my family and circle of friends built a kind of confidence in me. I was extremely tensed about getting into the correct location. And yes I should say it was a kind of challenge when I started but then we have amazing support from work colleagues and seniors which made it a lot easier. And map has been my best friend. Whenever I would find difficulty reaching the destination, I immediately rang here at office and the people here would help and my biggest challenge didn’t even get chance to peek its head.
The best part till date has been customers. Whenever I went to the doorstep with their order , customers come to receive it and they get surprised that Foodmandu has female riders. I have also received positive comments from a lot of people, from passers- by to customers.  Many people have appreciated it. This make me believe that females can do a lot more than that we are expected of. Thus, I urge to every females out there to begin the change from within and rest will follow.

   All we need is opportunity. And whilst world is talking big about gender equity and breaking the glass ceiling, we need to act on it. That doesn’t have to be a big CEO of a corporate giant. Glass ceiling exists in our mind and we need to break that first.  Only then Women can prove themselves and their   capability.”

“I am Shristi Rijal and I have completed my +2. While I am aiming to build my career, I decided to take this job for part time. I have always enjoyed riding my scooter and travelling different places. So this was a perfect opportunity for me to enhance my networking skills and travel. After knowing about the vacancy, it took me no time to realize that this step was not just a step into jobs but a revolutionary step. The best thing is my family supported me.  I absolutely enjoy my work. Initially I thought getting to correct destination would be a challenge; Like what if I get the order dropped to another building. (*laughs*) But other riders and seniors in office helped me get rid of the challenge. If I would get problems with the location, I would call and ask them. And yes the credit goes to the organizational culture of Foodmandu. I have joined the team recently and I feel everyone is so hospitable and helping every moment whenever I am in need. At the same time, I am getting huge support from customers as well. People have said that this is a good initiation of Foodmandu. Once I got stuck in a jam. I was carrying this huge Foodmandu bag as I headed to deliver an order. I heard people say, “Foodmandu ma female riders ni chhan aajkal? Kasto raamro shuruwat gareko.” This is what makes me feel proud of being a part of this  organization.

You know, we have these stereotypes prevalent in society. Delivery riders are male. Even I used to think of a guy coming with food whenever I thought of an order being delivered. But now I feel extremely proud to be one of the first delivery riders in the food delivery service industry. I feel like I am breaking the stereotype and contributing to the society. This is what girls need to do. All I would want to say to girls is we are meant to run the world and why not start by breaking the glass ceiling and running a scooty. (*laughs*)”