Surat: Seventy-three years ago, Marilyn Monroe immortalised the idea that diamonds are a girl’s best friend.In the villages of Gujarat today, women have taken that relationship several steps further — they are cutting, polishing, and building businesses around them.Across the countryside, all-women diamond polishing units have begun to emerge, reshaping one of India’s most storied male-dominated trades. These micro-enterprises, run largely by women with five to seven years of shop-floor experience, are redefining who holds power in diamond manufacturing.Traditionally, many of these women were confined to household responsibilities or seasonal agricultural labour, often assisting males on farms. However, this work paid just around Rs 200 per day.Diamond polishing, by contrast, offers up to Rs 500 a day, a comfortable 9am-to-6pm schedule, and, most importantly, employment close to home with substantial earnings. After accounting for wages, electricity expenses, and loan repayments, unit operators report net monthly earnings ranging between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000. Beyond income, the shift fostered financial independence, skill development, and entrepreneurial confidence among rural women.“Women get work near home and it is safe,” said Alpa Makwana, who runs a 10-scaife unit with 40 employees in Virpur, Bhavnagar. “Since we are handling a high-value product, we want trusted hands, and we find them among women from our own families and neighbourhoods.” Her elder sister-in-law, Kailash, runs a separate unit nearby. “Diamond polishing gives you job security and a real income,” Kailash said.The workforce comes largely from family, relatives, and neighbours — a close-knit circle that both employers and employees say creates a safe, trustworthy environment and reassures male relatives who might otherwise object.Employers, too, have noticed a productivity edge. “The output of women employees is higher than men,” said Atul Rathod, who operates a polishing unit in Virpur with more than 400 women on his floor. “Once they start in the morning, they work with complete focus, without any break, right through to lunch.”Some units handle the entire production cycle, including cutting, shaping, and finishing for jewellery settings. Others specialize in basic polishing before passing stones on to larger centres.Not all the women who run these units came through conventional paths. Sonal Chauhan, who employs 12 women at her unit in Sonpari village of Bhavnagar, left school after primary level and learned polishing in Palitana, her hometown, where she worked as an artisan for several years before marriage. She started her own unit with three scaife machines. “All my staff are women. Earnings depend on the type of work, but each employee earns at least Rs 10,000 a month,” she said.Rough stones come from her former employer, and the polished diamonds are returned through the same channel.“My family is large and my father’s earnings are limited. So, I left school and started working in a diamond unit,” said Prasanna Chauhan, an artisan who earns Rs 10,000 a month.Rama Parmar, from Malpur village, runs a five-scaife unit with 10 employees that handles natural diamonds and lab-grown. “Working in a diamond unit gives women a genuine option for quality employment,” she said.In Ranparda, Priya Navadiya runs a three-scaife unit from home, where only family women handle polishing while males source roughs and deliver the finished goods. “We learned the craft by working alongside experienced women,” she said.“Gradually role of women in diamond industry is growing with many running the units while some have all-women staff,” said Madhu Kakadiya, president, Palitana Diamond Association.
