Naaz Parveen left Kolkata with a degree, a year and a half of National Cadet Corps army training, and a plan: move to Chennai, prepare for the UPSC civil services examination, and become an IAS officer. What she had not anticipated was what she would find when she arrived—a city where she did not speak the language, knew no one, and had nowhere she could truly call home.
That changed when she moved into a Thozhi Working Women’s Hostel.
“It’s like a home, like my second home,” she says. “The environment is very calm and positive — there are trees, a common area, and a separate study room. And the management — if there is any medical emergency, even at 3 AM, they are there.”
Naaz’s father, a retired bus conductor, wanted her to pursue the UPSC exam. She missed the cut-off in her first attempt by just two marks but remains determined as she prepares for her second attempt while also working as a picker-captain in a quick commerce company in Chennai. She says, “When I become an IAS officer one day, I will truly understand what it means to be a small worker trying to support a family.”
A hostel away — lives Shanmukhapriya, who grew up in Sivakasi, a town in South Tamil Nadu known for its fireworks factories. She says, “There is a deeply conservative view of women venturing beyond in their community — one that believed the outside world would spoil them.” She cleared NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test is for undergraduate medical and dental program), yet her options remained limited.
But today, she is an IT Audit Assurance Consultant at a Big Four firm, auditing Fortune 500 companies. She has been living independently in Chennai for several years. And the sister and cousins who watched her go — they are now pursuing their own education in faraway cities.
“On seeing me, I can clearly see that other girls are getting these opportunities,” she says. “When you are educating a woman, you are educating a family. When one is paving the way for others, automatically, the others will benefit.”
She had arrived at the Thozhi hostel expecting the drab accommodations. What she found was modern amenities — air conditioning, ovens, a study room, easy metro access — and a responsive management team that addressed complaints within a day.
read more: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2026/08/17/more-than-a-roof-how-safe-housing-is-unlocking-women-s-path-to-education-and-jobs
