The Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA) is a trade union for poor, self-employed women workers in India. SEWA was founded in 1972 by the noted Gandhian and civil rights leader Dr Ela Bhatt. SEWA's main office is located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and it works in several states of India. SEWA had a membership of 966,139 in the year 2008. SEWA members are women who earn a living through their own labour or small businesses. They do not obtain regular salaried employment with welfare benefits like workers in the organized sector. They are the unprotected labour force of India. Constituting 93% of the labour force, these are workers of the unorganized sector. Of the female labour force in India, more than 94% are in the unorganized sector. However their work is not counted and hence remains invisible.
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Goals
SEWA’s main goals are to organize women workers for full employment and self reliance. SEWA aims to mainstream marginalized, poor women in the informal sector and lift them out of their poverty.
History
The Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) was founded in 1972 as a trade union of self employed women. It grew out of the Textile Labour Association (TLA), India's oldest and largest union of textile workers founded in 1920 by Anasuya Sarabhai. The inspiration for the union came from Mahatma Gandhi, who led a successful strike of textile workers in 1917. He believed that by developing unity as well as personality, a worker should be able to hold his or her own against tyranny from employers or the state. To develop this strength he believed that a union should cover all aspects of worker's lives both in the factory and at home. Against this background of active involvement in industrial relations, social work and local, state and national politics, the ideological base provided by Mahatma Gandhi and the feminist seeds planted by Anasuya Sarabhai led to the creation by the TLA of their Women's Wing in 1954. Its original purpose was to assist women belonging to households of mill workers and its work was focused largely on training and welfare activities. By 1968, classes in sewing, knitting embroidery, spinning, press composition typing and stenography were established in centers throughout the city for the wives and daughters of mill workers. The scope of its activities expanded in the early 1970's when a survey was conducted to probe complaints by women tailors of exploitation by contractors. The survey brought out other instances of exploitation of women workers and revealed the large numbers untouched by government legislation and policies.
In 1971, a small group of migrant women working as cart-pullers in Ahmedabad's cloth market came to the TLA with their labour contractor. He had heard of a transport workers' union organized by the TLA and thought they might be able to help the women find some housing. At the time, the women were living on the streets without shelter. They were sent to see Ela Bhatt, the Head of Women's Wing. After talking with the women in her office, she went with them to the areas where they were living and to the market area where they were working. While there, she met another group of women who were working as head-loaders, carrying loads of clothes between the wholesale and retail markets. As she sat with them on the steps of the warehouses where they waited for work, they discussed their jobs and their low and erratic wages. Following the meeting, Ela Bhatt wrote an article for the local newspaper and detailed the problems of the head-loaders. The cloth merchants countered the charges against them with a news article of their own, denying the allegations and testifying to their fair treatment of the head-loaders. The Women's Wing turned the release of this story to their own advantage by reprinting the merchant's claims on the cards and distributing them to use as leverage with the merchants. Soon word of this effective ploy spread and a group of used garment dealers approached the Women's Wing with their own grievances. A public meeting of used garment dealers was called and over hundred women attended. During the meeting in a public park, a woman from the crowd suggested they form an association of their own. Thus, on an appeal from the women and at the initiative of the leader of the Women's Wing, Ela Bhatt, and the president of the TLA, Arvind Buch, the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) was born in December 1971. The women felt that as a workers' association, SEWA should establish itself as a Trade Union. This was a fairly novel idea, because the self-employed have no real history of organizing. The first struggle SEWA undertook was obtaining official recognition as Trade Union. The Labour Department refused to register SEWA because they felt that since there was no recognized employer, the workers would have no one to struggle against. We argued that a Union was not necessarily against an employer, but was for the unity of the workers. Finally, SEWA was registered as a Trade Union in April 1972. SEWA grew continuously from 1972, increasing in its membership and including more and more different occupations within its fold. The beginning of the Women's Decade in 1975 gave a boost to the growth of SEWA, placing it within the women's movement. In 1977, SEWA's General Secretary, Ela Bhatt, was awarded prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award and this brought international recognition to SEWA.
By 1981, relations between SEWA and TLA had deteriorated. TLA did not appreciate an assertive women's group in its midst. Also, the interests of TLA, representing workers of the organized sector often came into conflict with the demands of SEWA, representing unorganized women workers. The conflict came to a head in 1981 during the anti-reservation riots when members of higher castes attacked the Harijans (untouchables), many of whom were members of both TLA and SEWA. SEWA spoke out in defense of the Harijans (untouchables), whereas TLA remained silent. Because of this outspokenness, TLA threw out SEWA from its fold. After the separation from TLA, SEWA grew even faster and started new initiatives. In particular, the growth of many new co-operatives, a more militant trade union and many supportive services has given SEWA a new shape and direction.
SEWA Movement
Gujarat
Cooperatives
1. DWCRA (rural producers') Groups
2. Social Security Organisations
3. Savings and Credit Groups
4. Federations
5. Guj.State Mahila SEWA Co-op. Federation
6. Banaskantha DWCRA Mahila SEWA Association
7. Kutchcraft Association
8. Kheda Dist. Women's Savings & Credit Association
9. A'bad Dist. Women's Savings & Credit Association
10. Gandhinagar Dist. Women's Savings & Credit Association
11. Swashrayi Mahila Sewa Khet Majur Association - Mehasana District
12. A'bad Dist Vegetable Growers & Sellers Association
13. Sabarkantha Kheda Mandal
14. Surendranagar Dist. Women & Child Develop. Mandal
15. Shri Mahila SEWA Anasooya Trust
16. Gujarat Mahila Housing SEWA Trust
17. Sewa Trade Facilitation Centre
18. SEWA Gram Mahila Haat
19. SEWA - A.M.A. Mgmt. Develop. Centre
20. SEWA Insurance
21. Banascraft / Kutchh craft
22. Shri Swashrayi Mahila Lok Swasthya Sahakari Mandli Ltd.
National
1. National Alliance of Street Vendors of India (NASVI)
2. Sewa Bharat
3. Homenet India
4. Homenet South Asia
International
1. Homenet
2. Streetnet
3. SEWA in Turkey
SEWA’s Sister Organizations
In order to address the problem of lack of access to timely and efficient savings and credit facilities and to free themselves from the vicious cycle of eternal debt, SEWA members devised their own solution: "a bank of their own, where they would be accepted in their own right and not be made to feel inferior". 4,000 women members of SEWA contributed share capital of Rs.10 each to establish the Mahila SEWA Co-operative Bank in May 1974. Currently, SEWA Bank has 125,000 self employed women depositors and has disbursed loans without the need for traditional collateral, of over Rs.350 million.
SEWA Academy was created in 1991. It is the organizational wing responsible for basic membership education and for capacity building, leadership training, communications and research.
SEWA has also explored several channels to support members in their communication efforts. These include “Anasooya” – SEWA’s fortnightly news letter in Gujarati, “Akashganga” – monthly magazine for adolescent girls, “We the Self Employed” - SEWA’s electronic newsletter published in English and aims to reach policy makers, programme planners and a wider national and international audience. Video SEWA was established in 1984 as a means to provide training to the members of SEWA and to motivate, mobilize and strengthen the existing membership of SEWA through the use of video recordings and tapes.
Shri Mahila SEWA Anasooya Trust
"Anasooya" was started in 1982 to provide a forum for presentation of experiences, ideas and viewpoints emerging from SEWA's work. It has completed fourteen years successfully and regular - not missing a single issue. It is published on 6th and 22nd of every month.
Credible, scientific based research has been a critical tool in SEWA’s advocacy efforts. Through research, SEWA strives to bring its members, the self employed women, into the mainstream of the world of knowledge. ‘Action oriented research’ is the corner stone of this intervention and SEWA Academy is the organizational wing responsible for this task.
Gujarat State Women’s SEWA Co-operative Federation Ltd.
From the time of its inception the Federation has concentrated in providing comprehensive training in cooperative education, marketing, management, record keeping, leadership and technical training. It also provides assistance in various areas of cooperative development.
Is an integrated insurance program aiming to provide social protection for SEWA members to cover their life cycle needs and the various risks they face in their lives, through an insurance organization in which they themselves are users, owners and managers of all services.
In 1994, the Gujarat Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT) was officially registered with the overall objectives of improving the housing and infrastructure conditions of poor women in the informal sector.
SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre
In response to the demand for creating sustainable livelihood strategies for the poorest of the poor women producers, The SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre (STFC) was established in May 2003 as the commercial arm of SEWA by more than 15000 women artisans in the textiles and handicrafts sector.
SEWA Manager Ni School The SEWA Manager’s School began in 2005 as a capacity building institution within SEWA with the goal of facilitating economic self-sustainability through building a cadre of grassroots managers.
SEWA Sanskar Kendra (SSK) envisaged as the 'hub' or centre of activity for a cluster of ten to fifteen villages. SSKs were established keeping in mind that the women in the rural communities had requirements of diverse information while they had the least access to information and communication technologies.
ICT revolution has driven numerous initiatives by using new technologies for poverty alleviation and socioeconomic development. SEWA realized the potential of new information technologies in facilitating capacity development, supporting cooperative efforts and reducing vulnerability by increasing access to information, particularly about entitlements and programs. SEWA ICT has enabled poor people, particularly women, living in remote areas to access vital information related to their trade, livelihoods, government schemes including Panchayati Raj (local self-government), seeking and sharing expert opinions on disaster management, management of enterprise, marketing of produce and products. SEWA ICT represented a powerful strategy for overcoming various notions of a 'digital divide' and making the information available to the powerless.
SEWA Nirman Construction Workers Company Ltd
SEWA NIRMAN generates sustainable livelihood for its members (i.e. the construction workers) by organizing & training semi-skilled workers and free them from exploitation. SEWA NIRMAN works for infrastructure development across the country, focusing on rural development benefiting the construction industry and the entire nation at large.
Vanlaxmi Women Tree Grower's Cooperative initiated by SEWA depicts one of its many achievements in the field of women empowerment and poverty alleviation through sustainable self-employment. This is a case of poor and working landless women's struggle to form and run their eco regenerative activity in the water starved area of Gujarat.
SEWA has organized around 10,000 salt workers and farmers in Surendranagar and Patan districts of Gujarat. Kharaghoda is situated in Surendranagar, Gujarat.
Saundarya Safai Uttkarsh SEWA Mahila Shahkari Mandli Ltd
The cooperative completed 22 years of its journey with the support of women. It was started to help paper-picker women. In 1986 the first ever cleaning cooperative was formed with the support of SEWA Federation.
The marketing outlet for member artisans from craft co-operatives is promoted by SEWA. It provides regular employment and helps to preserve traditional skills through cooperative efforts for self-reliance eliminating the middleman. The federation assist the artisans in marketing, helps them in conservation and development of their products. Similarly the federation facilitates vendors and farmers to buy and sell at the Agriculture Producers Marketing Committee eliminating the middle agencies.
SEWA Bharat is a federation of SEWA member organizations, with the mandate to highlight issues concerning women working in the informal sector, and to strengthen the capacity of the organizations that serve the interests of these women. Presently nine such SEWA member organizations are working in 35 districts of seven states, and together they accounted for a total membership around 12, 00,000.
HomeNet South Asia is a network organisation of women homebased workers promoted by UNIFEM and SEWA. It was set up after the Kathmandu Declaration , formulated in an international conference convened in Nepal in year 2000. The formal launching of HomeNet South Asia was held on January 17, 2007 in the Conference “Women Work & Poverty Policy Conference on Home Based Workers of South Asia” which was inaugurated by Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh.
SEWA Publications
- Shramashakti by Ela Bhatt (1989)
- Grind of Work by Ela Bhatt (1989)
- Where Women are Leaders by Kalima Rose (1992)
- Taking Care of our Children (Working Paper Series I) by Mirai Chatterji and Jyoti Macwan (1992)
- My Life My Work (Working Paper Series II) by Renana Jhabwala, Namrata Bali (1993)
- We Can and We Will (Working Paper Series III) by Reema Nanavaty (1994)
- Annual SEWA Reports
- SEWA Academy Research Series, Topics in Methods-Survey Sampling (1995)
- Wage Fixation for Home Based Piece Rate Workers by Renana Jhabvala, Rahima Shaikh and SEWA Academy Team (1995)
- Cooperatives and Empowerment of Women by Ela Bhatt (1995)
- Mainstreaming the Informal Sector Women by Ela Bhatt, Bishwaroop Das (1995)
- Textiles in the peoples sector by Renana Jhabvala (1995)
- Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) (1995)
- Moving Towards People Centered Economy by Ela Bhatt (1995)
- The World of Work in People’s Sector and its Inherent Strength -Sewa Experience by Renana Jhabvala, Ela Bhatt (1995)
- Beyond Microcredit: Structures that increase the economic power of the poor by Ela Bhatt, (1995)
- Rural Women’s Micro Enterprises, Unit Cost Details by Reema Nanavaty (1995)
- Structural Adjustment Programme: Issues and Strategies for Action for ‘Peoples’ Sector Women Workers in India by Renana Jhabvala (1995)
- Women in the Informal Economy by Renana Jhabvala (1995)
- Liberalizing for the Poor by Renana Jhabvala (1995)
- A Case Study of Interventions in the Labour Market-SEWA (1996)
- Legal Status of Street Vendors in Cities by Ela Bhatt (1996)
- Women’s Health and Security: Strengthening Women’s Economy by Ela Bhatt (1996)
- Impact of Implementing ICDS through Sangini Child Care workers cooperative: An Alternative Model by Renana Jhabvala, Mirai Chatterji, Mita Parikh (1996)
- Video SEWA Media Expressions by SEWA Academy (1996)
- Evaluation Study of literacy classes run by SEWA Academy by SEWA Academy Research Team (1996)
- Model Training Modules for Rural Women by Reema Nanavaty (1996)
- Vending is my way of life: Profiles of Vendors by Tejaswini Dhomse (1997)
- Organizing Street Vendors – SEWA’s experience in Ahmedabad City by Mirai Chatterjee, Manali Shah (1997)
- Occupational Health of Women Workers in the Unorganized Sector by Mirai Chatterjee, Sunayana Waliya, Sweta Kohli (1998)
- SEWA-NCAER Project on Contribution of the Informal Sector to National Income by SEWA (1998)
- Urban Informal Sector: Size and Income Generation Processes in Gujarat by Uma Rani, Jeemol Unni (1999)
- Subcontracted women workers in the global economy:Case Study of Garment Industry in India by Jeemol Unni, Namrata Bali, Jignasa Vyas (1999)
- Sustainable livelihood of poor women and household through access to food, nutrition and employment generation by SEWA (1999)
- A Report on Subcontracted units and women workers in the Garment Industry by Pratima Singh (1999)
- Informal Sector Activities in Rural Areas – A Methodological Study by Jeemol Unni, Paul Jacob (1999)
- Social Security for Agarbatti worker by Mita Parikh (1999)
- Building Capacities for Leadership and Self Reliance (short version by Sewa Academy (2000)
- Voices from the Streets: The National Vendors Campaign in India by Sewa Academy (2000)
- Promoting Health Security for Women in the Informal Sector by Sewa Academy (2000)
- The Fragrance of Hard Work –Women Incense Stick Rollers of Gujarat by Sewa Academy (2000)
- Our Barefoot Doctors: The Midwives of SEWA by Sewa Academy (2000)
- Full Employment and Social Protection: Towards a Concept of Basic Security for Informal Workers by Sewa Academy (2000)
- The Gum Collectors: Struggling to Survive in the Dry Areas of Banaskantha by Sewa Academy2000)
- Healthcare, Childcare, Shelter and Insurance: Social Security by Sewa Academy (2000)
- Reclaiming Childhood: A Case Study of Child Care Centres for the Children of Salt Pan Worker
by Sewa Academy (2000)
- Organizing Change: Union and Cooperatives by Sewa Academy (2000)
- Organizing Bidi Workers in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh by Sewa Academy (2000)
- Labouring Brick by Brick: A Study of Construction Workers by Sewa Academy (2000)
- Services Delivery to the Poor: And What About The Demand Side by Reema Nanavaty (2000)
- Women Water and Work: SEWA’s Millennium Campaign by Reema Nanavaty (2000)
- Our Health is Our Only Wealth by Bijal Raval, Sapna Desai, Surabhi Modi (2000)
- Making the Poor Women Reach Markets: SEWA’s Journey by Reema Nanavaty (2000)
- Does Empowerment Matter for Economic Development? by Reema Nanavaty (2000)
- Towards Second Freedom by Ela Bhatt (2000)
- Micro-finance and Information Technology by SEWA Bank (2001)
- A Home of her own: Sewa Bank Annual Report by Sewa Bank (2001)
- Annual Report of Sewa Bank by Sewa Bank (2001)
- Multiple Status of Women in the Informal Economy by Bijal Raval with Academy Research Team (2001)
- Basic Security – Case Studies by Shanta Koshti, Nafisa Khalil, Purshottam Vankar (2001)
- Transforming Water Into Money by SEWA, FPI, IRC (2001)
- Reaching Out by Reaching In by Sewa Academy (2001)
- Towards Securer Lives Mala Dayal (2001)
- Strength in Solidarity by Shalini Sinha (2002)
- Tana Vana – Warp and Weft of Life by Sewa Academy and North South Dialogue (2002)
- Increasing Employment and Income: Some Experience of SEWA (2002)
- Problems While Organising by Surashree Saha (2003)
- Women as Farmers - The Constructive Struggle of SEWA's Small and Marginal Farmers by Reema Nanavaty (2004)
- Towards Economic Freedom: The Impact of SEWA (2005) by Martha Alter Chen, Ruchi Khurana, Nidhi Mirani
- At the Kadiyanaka: Challenges faced by Construction Workers in Ahmedabad by
Purshottam Vankar and SEWA Academy Research Team (2005)
- Small and Marginal Farmers in Gujarat: A Profile of SEWA Member Households in Mehsana and Sabarkantha Districts by Surashree Shome and SEWA Grass Root Research Team for Mehsana and Sabarkantha District (2005)
- Struggling for Survival: The Gum Collectors of Gujarat Revisited by Jignasa Dave and Grass Root Team for Banaskantha District (2005)
- Life Has Educated Me: Building Interpersonal Networks Through the Jadibanagar Slum Upgrading Project Contributors: Sally Roever, Karl Osner et…al (2005)
- Self-Employed Women: A Profile of SEWA's Membership (2006) by Martha Alter Chen, Nidhi Mirani, and Mita Parikh
- Globalisation of garment industry by Research team, SEWA Academy (2006)
- Exposure and Dialogue Programmes: A Grassroots Immersion Tool for Understanding Poverty and Influencing Policy by Sewa IFAD (2006)
- Exposure and Dialogue Programmes: A Grassroots Immersion Tool for Understanding Poverty and Influencing Policy by SEWA, World Bank (2006)
References
External links
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