The final male bastions are crumbling fast, especially in chronically job-scarce Kerala. Suddenly there are women bus conductors, speedboat drivers, postmen (postwomen?), petrol pump attendants and what have you. They come from middle class families, from SC/ST communities. According to the latest official survey, women have been admitted in technical training institutes and have qualified as civil and mechanical draftsmen, surveyors, carpenters, sheet metal workers and radio and TV mechanics. In government polytechnics, as many as 56.9 per cent of the students are female. Empowerment of women is clearly not just a slogan here.