To many people living in rural poverty, eye care is a luxury that they can't afford.  VisonSpring's mission is simple - provide inexpensive, high-quality eyeglasses to villagers who otherwise would experience life without seeing clearly.  To achieve this, the organization trains a corps of villagers as "Vision Entrepreneurs"; these people run vision screening camps and sell eyeglasses at affordable prices, and in the process earn themselves steady income. Rose McCausland of Living Lens discusses her experience at an eye camp and raises the question, "why can't single women be Vision Entrepreneurs?"

Making eyeglasses affordable

I’d never considered the impact of far-sightedness on people who are unable to afford glasses.  To me, non-prescriptive glasses are something that are readily available and most people I know over the age of 45 whips out a pair whenever they pick up a newspaper.  For people living in poverty, this common accessory is out of reach, and the impact on their lives can be frustrating at best and devastating at worst – farmers struggle to detect bugs on crops and cannot read the small print on pesticides, women who rely on threading a needle and delicate embroidery for their livelihoods lose their means of income.  VisionSpring has come up with an answer – access to affordable reading glasses.  The idea is so simple and so effective that, like all good ideas, I couldn’t believe it hadn’t been around for decades, but VisionSpring only launched its project in 2001.

What I found really compelling about what VisionSpring is that they enable those with the most experience in their communities to keep contributing and being active.  I couldn’t wait to see the project in action.

The Eye Camp model

We drove out of Hyderabad to a rural village where VisionSpring had set up a community Eye Camp.  A team of local "Vision Entrepreneurs" trained by VisionSpring were testing local people’s eyes and fitting them with glasses.  We entered a small hall in the centre of village and found a well-organised system in place. There was a buzz in the room; I felt excited knowing that each villager who entered would leave with a pair of glasses and a new future.  Each villager visited work stations around the room that took them through two eye tests, a fitting to assess the strength of lens needed, choosing their preferred style of glasses and finally payment – US$3 a pair, which can be paid back in installments.  I watched an elderly woman take the glasses and focus on the palm of her hand, seemingly fascinated by the detail and clarity that she could now enjoy.

The model for VisionSpring is simple.  Local people are trained as Vision Entrepreneurs.  Equipped with VisionSpring rucksacks, they run mobile Eye Camps in rural villages throughout the state of Andhra Pradesh.  They take the details of each villager tested; these details are then sent to the regional office, where the information is entered into a database.  Villages are visited every six months.  In providing these villages the necessary service of affordable eye care, Vision Entrepreneurs earn a steady income for themselves.

"Chronic single female" condition - a missed opportunity

We asked the team about the selection process for Vision Entrepreneurs. It was surprising to me that unmarried women weren’t considered for the job.  It was explained that they may marry and move to another district, so it doesn’t make sense to invest in them.  Myself and a few other women in the group felt that this was a missed opportunity and it raised some discussion.  Interestingly, it turns out that micro-finance schemes work along the same lines, seeing married women as less risky, more reliable and responsible and therefore a better choice for investment.  There is however an exception to the rule, this is… wait for it… the ‘chronic single female’!  Wow, I didn’t know such a term existed!  I immediately started to consider my credentials, wondering if, as a 38 year single woman, I’d fall into this category?

While I recognise that business involves assessing and managing risk, I wonder if companies and organisations are missing an opportunity to transform the belief that single women represent greater risk than their married counter-parts.  In my experience, single women can make enormous contributions to their community, having the time, energy and focus that is not always available to married women.  Should single women have to wait for their condition to become chronic before they’re given opportunities to prove their worth?