Sunita lives in a slum area of Ahmedabad and is the sole breadwinner for her family of four.

She has two daughters and one son. She was unable to study in her childhood and remained illiterate. After marriage, she started selling vegetables from a roadside lorry, as her husband does nothing and wastes money on alcohol. Being illiterate, she always faced difficulties in counting money, basic measurements, and conversions.

. She had to trust customers during transactions and did not have any bank account. While purchasing vegetables from the wholesale market or getting ration from the shop, she always felt cheated as she didn't know what is 5 kg or grams or how to calculate money for kg and grams. Calculating profit and loss was the most difficult task for her. After completing literacy classes, she learned counting from one to hundred and do basic calculation. Before the literacy classes, she used to earn 6-7,000 rupees per month. After completing the literacy course, she became much more confident. Now she holds a bank account and saves her money from her husband. She also scaled her business. Now she earns 10-12,000 rupees per month, and nobody can cheat her.

Phoolbai is a graduate, but because of the poor economic condition of her family, she and her husband had to work at a construction site in Gujarat immediately after their marriage.

She belongs to a small village near the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh. She earns 8-10k per month and lives in a shanty at the construction site with her husband and other migrant workers. When she learned about the vacancy for a Prerak (teacher) to teach illiterate women in her native village, she immediately got ready despite earning almost half of what she was making as a laborer.

She elaborates on how facing the eyes of men at the construction site, their lewd gestures, and behavior was insulting and scary. She did not share these incidents with her husband for fear of losing work and avoiding conflict. The last time her husband asked her to return to Gujarat, she refused and shared the reason. Phoolbai enjoys teaching illiterate women in her village. She says that earning money is important, but without dignity, money makes no sense. (Phoolbai was a Prerak in Adult Literacy program, MP)