MUMBAI: Here’s a sobering thought: women bartenders are leaving the city because they feel discriminated against. On new year’s eve they will have to stop work even before a party starts, because of a deadline that allows them to work only till 8.30pm, unlike their male counterparts who will work into the wee hours of the morning.
Many women bartenders are going to bartend in other cities, including smaller ones like Indore and Jabalpur. Or even Delhi, a city considered unsafe for women, but where the Supreme Court has allowed women to bartend till 1.30am.
“When we are free to make a living the way we wish to, why does the law have to decide how late we stay at the bar,” asks Mazarath Khan, who will bartend at parties in Goa.
Her feelings are echoed by Sophiya Ansari, who has been freelancing as a bartender for the last two years. “I bartend by choice and don’t need to be told when I should leave the bar.”
Vinita Pinto was bartending at Enigma, JW Marriot, ast year. But this year she’ll be at Indore where she’ll get paid less but can work till 1.30 am.
Most women bartenders get dropped home after work and though they don’t always feel safe at parties, they say the new restriction makes them feel out-of-place. Zena K, bartender at Flaming Fires, says, “The partying deadline is now 5 am in Mumbai, but why has no one given a thought to women bartenders?”
Shatbhi Basu, director of Stir Bartending Academy, adds, “If the law applies for all women, why are women in the hospitality industry allowed to work as late as 7 am?
What happened to Mumbai’s cosmo image?” And as women bartenders head to other cities for the New Year’s eve do, the demand has shot up in Mumbai. Ami Shroff, a bartender at celeb parties, says, “The rates have trebled.”
An official at a suburban five-star hotel confirms, “We are ready to pay as we haven’t managed to rope in professional women bartenders this year.”
While the clock will strike at 8.30 pm for Mumbai’s women bartenders, those in Delhi and Indore can go on till 1.30 am, and their counterparts in Bangalore and Goa can work till 5 am, and get a home drop.
