My ex maid, She got married at the age of 15 to a person who is a sweeper. She was born n raised in a village. Her husband gets fixed income as salary. But he is a drunkard. Half of the days in a month, he is drunk and other half he will be sick after drinking and needing medical assistance. This lady she is thin like a pencil, does the maid job in 7 to 8 households from morning 8 to evening 7. She walks around 15k steps or more daily covering these houses which are in different places. She wakes up at 5 and does cooking for her family. She has 2 children and she has put them in English medium schools. If her husband was good enough she could have lived like a queen but she toils day n night like an ant. And when he falls sick, I have seen her holding his hand and take him to the hospital. When he is in hospital too, she hardly takes off, she goes to all the houses and then stays in the hospital. Even if someone gives her extra work, she never cribs or complaints. No gossiping like other maids, do the work and leave the place. Even in hot weather she will be seen walking. Someone gave her travelling expense, but she would still walk and use that money for other needs. She is a hard working, and strong woman in my eyes. Many tried to counsel her husband but he would never mend his ways.
Common denominator(s) that makes distressed women to attain win win situations generally occur among downtrodden. 2. Many of maids employed over the years since my parents time have risen from acute poverty to middle and upper middle class in a period of two to three decades merely by sheer mental toughness, grit and determination & of course aided by welfare measures from time to time announced by extant governments. 3. Such women empower themselves, fixing up reasonable goal and get support by & learn from their memsabhs how to attain them. They seem to evolve techniques to suit the hurdle they want to cross over . 4. One such strong women I happen to watch is Shanthi - she was One of our maids married to a man enslaved to cheap intoxicant beating kids and spouse. I had narrated her story in her own words that includes SWOT in link: A Date With Domestic Help
Many but the one that stands out is one of my undergraduate researchers. This young woman has her eyes set on becoming a veterinarian. She is hardly 21 and has been highly accomplished despite any family support. her father has been in and out of prison since she was a child. Her mother is an addict and had left home when the girl was 9. Since then she has been going from one family to other while focusing all her energy on her school. She works full-time while working on one of the hardest majors at our university. She is a swimmer and an athlete. Every time I think about her I am just amazed by her hard work and sheer tenacity.