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7/28/2019 Ela Bhatt Entrepreneur
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Submitted by
Miss. MAYURI PANDURANG KOLI
ACADEMIC YEAR: 2012-2013
Under the Guidance of
PROF. NILESH MANORE
J.B.S.P .SANSTHAS
C.K.T. Institute Of Management Studies & Research,
Plot No.-1 & 4, Sector-11, Khanda Colony, New
Panvel [W]410206
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ELA BHATT
ELA BHATT was Born on 7 September 1933(age 79) Ahmadabad, Gujarat.
Nationality Indian & Citizenship is Indian. Education is B.A.LL.B; Diploma of
labor & cooperatives; Alma mater Sarvajanik Girls high school, Surat; M. T. B.
college, Surat; Afro Asian institute of labor & cooperatives, Tel Aviv. Occupation
is lawyer, Philanthropist, Activist. Organization is SEWA, The Elders. She is
popularly known for founded of SEWA. Spoues is Ramesh Bhatt. Parents are
Sumantrai Bhatt, Vanalila Vyas.
Awards :-
Padmashri 1985 Padma Bhushan 1986 Ramon Magsaysay award 1977
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Right livelihood award 1984 Doctorate degree in humane letters, Harvard University 2001
Early life :-
Ela Bhatt was born in Ahmedabad in India. Her childhood was spent in the city
ofSurat. Her father, Sumantrai Bhatt, had a successful law practice. Her mother,
Vanalila Vyas, was active in the women's movement. Bhatt attended the Sarvajanik
Girls High School in Surat from 1940 to 1948. She received her Bachelor of Arts
degree from the M.T.B. College in Surat in 1952. Following graduation Ela
entered the Sir L. A. Shah Law College in Ahmedabad. In 1954 she received her
degree in law and a Gold Medal for her work on Hindu Law. She then taught
English for a short time at SNDT Women's University, better known as SNDT,
in Mumbai. But in 1955 she joined the legal department of the Textile Labour
Association (TLA) in Ahmedabad.
Current Life :-
Ela Bhatt currently lives in Ahmedabad, Gujarat with her family.
TLA and SEWA:-
In 1956, Ela Bhatt married Ramesh Bhatt (now deceased). After working for some
time with the Gujaratgovernment, Ela was asked by the TLA to head its women's
wing in 1968. In this connection she went to Israelwhere she studied at the Afro-
Asian Institute of Labor and Cooperatives in Tel Aviv for three months, receiving
the International Diploma of Labor and Cooperatives in 1971. She was very much
influenced by the fact that thousands of female textile workers worked elsewhere
to supplement the family income, but there were state laws protecting only those
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who were solely industrial workers and not these self-employed women. So with
the co-operation ofArvind Buch, the then president of TLA, Ela Bhatt undertook
to organize these self-employed women into a union under the auspices of the
Women's Wing of the TLA. Then in 1972 the Self-Employed Women's
Association (SEWA) was established with Buch as president and she herself as the
general-secretary.
Other work and awards :-
She was one of the founders ofWomen's World Banking in 1979 with Esther
Ocloo and Michaela Walsh, and served as its chair from 1980 to 1998. She hasserved as Chair of the SEWA Cooperative Bank, of HomeNet, of the International
Alliance of Street Vendors, and ofWIEGO.
She was also a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation.
She was granted an honorary Doctorate degree in Humane Letters by Harvard
University in June 2001. In 2012, she received a Doctor of Humane Letters,
honoris causa from Georgetown University and an honorary doctorate from
Universite Libre De Bruxelles in Brussels, Belgium. She also holds honorary
doctorates from Yale and University of Natal. Ela Bhatt was also awarded the
civilian honour ofPadma Shriby the Government ofIndia in 1985, and the Padma
Bhushan in 1986. She was awarded theRamon Magsaysay Award for Community
Leadership in 1977 and the Right Livelihood Award in 1984.
She was chosen for the Niwano Peace Prize for 2010 for her work empowering
poor women in India.
On November 2010, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton honoured Bhatt with
the Global Fairness Initiative Award for helping move more than a million poor
women in India to a position of dignity and independence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arvind_Buch&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_World_Bankinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Afua_Ocloohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Afua_Ocloohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michaela_Walsh&action=edit&redlink=1http://www.streetnet.org.za/english/default.htm/http://www.streetnet.org.za/english/default.htm/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIEGOhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Foundationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Shrihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Bhushanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Bhushanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Magsaysay_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_Livelihood_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niwano_Peace_Prizehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Global_Fairness_Initiative_Award&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Global_Fairness_Initiative_Award&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niwano_Peace_Prizehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_Livelihood_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Magsaysay_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Bhushanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Bhushanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Shrihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Foundationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIEGOhttp://www.streetnet.org.za/english/default.htm/http://www.streetnet.org.za/english/default.htm/http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michaela_Walsh&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Afua_Ocloohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Afua_Ocloohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_World_Bankinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arvind_Buch&action=edit&redlink=17/28/2019 Ela Bhatt Entrepreneur
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Ela Bhatt was honoured with the prestigious Radcliffe Medal on May 27, 2011
on Radcliffe day for her efforts in helping uplift women, which has had a
significant impact on society.
In November 2011, Ela Bhatt was selected for the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace,
Disarmament and Development 2011 for her lifetime achievements in empowering
women through grassroots entrepreneurship.
In June 2012, US Sectretary of State Hillary Clinton identified Ela Bhatt as one of
her 'heroine'. She said, "I have a lot of heroes and heroines around the world and
one of them is Ela Bhatt, who started an organisation called the Self-Employed
Women's Association (SEWA) in India many years ago".
The Elders :-
On 18 July 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nelson Mandela, Graa Machel,
and Desmond Tutu convened a group of world leaders to contribute their wisdom,
independent leadership and integrity to tackle some of the world's toughest
problems. Nelson Mandela announced the formation of this new group,The Elders,
in a speech he delivered on the occasion of his 89th birthday.
Archbishop Tutu will serve as the Chair of The Elders. The founding members of
this group also include Graa Machel, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem
Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Li Zhaoxing, Mary Robinson and Muhammad Yunus.
This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the
scenes on whatever actions need to be taken, Mandela commented. Together we
will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is
conflict, and inspire hope where there is despair.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radcliffe_Medal&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radcliffe_day&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clintonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Employed_Women%27s_Associationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Employed_Women%27s_Associationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gra%C3%A7a_Machelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Eldershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gra%C3%A7a_Machelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofi_Annanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro_Harlem_Brundtlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro_Harlem_Brundtlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Zhaoxinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Robinsonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Robinsonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Zhaoxinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro_Harlem_Brundtlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro_Harlem_Brundtlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofi_Annanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gra%C3%A7a_Machelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Eldershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gra%C3%A7a_Machelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Employed_Women%27s_Associationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Employed_Women%27s_Associationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clintonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radcliffe_day&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radcliffe_Medal&action=edit&redlink=17/28/2019 Ela Bhatt Entrepreneur
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The Elders will be independently funded by a group of Founders, including
SirRichard Branson, Peter Gabriel, Ray Chambers; Michael Chambers; Bridgeway
Foundation; Pam Omidyar, Humanity United; Amy Robbins; Shashi Ruia, Dick
Tarlow; and The United Nations Foundation.
Ela Bhatt:
"Organizing Working Poor Women: The Sewa
Experience"
Dr. Ela Bhatt, recipient of the University of Chicago's 2007 William Benton Medal
for Distinguished Public Service, presented a public lecture on Novermber 27th in
the Weymouth Kirkland Courtroom. Ela R. Bhatt is widely recognized as one of
the worlds most remarkable pioneers and entrepreneurial forces in grassroots
development. Known as the gentle revolutionary she has dedicated her life to
improving the lives of Indias poorest and most oppressed women workers, with
Gandhian thinking as her source of guidance. In 1972, Dr. Bhatt founded the Self-
Employed Womens Association (SEWA) a trade union which now has more
than 1,000,000 members. Founder Chair of the Cooperative Bank of SEWA, she is
also founder and chair of Sa-Dhan (the All India Association of Micro Finance
Institutions in India) and founder-chair of the Indian School of Micro-finance for
Women. Dr. Bhatt was a Member of the Indian Parliament from 1986 to 1989, and
subsequently a Member of the Indian Planning Commission. She founded and
served as chair for Womens World Banking, the International Alliance of Home-
based Workers (HomeNet), and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing,
Organizing (WIEGO). She also served as a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation
for a decade. Dr. Bhatt has received several awards, including the Ramon
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Magsaysay Award, the Right Livelihood Award, the George Meany-Lane Kirkland
Human Rights Award, and the Lgion dhonneur from France. She has also
received honorary doctorates from Harvard, Yale, the University of Natal and other
academic institutions. In 2007, Dr. Bhatt was named a member of The Elders, an
international group of leaders whose goals include catalyzing peaceful resolutions
to long-standing conflicts, articulating new approaches to global issues that are
causing or may cause immense human suffering, and sharing wisdom by helping to
connect voices all over the world. The Benton Medal The William Benton Medal
for Distinguished Public Service is given to individuals who have rendered
distinguished public service in the field of education. This field includes not only
teachers but also . . . everyone who contributes in a systematic way to shaping
minds and disseminating knowledge. Previous Benton Medal recipients include
John Callaway, Katharine Graham, and Senator Paul Simon.
SEWAs Ela Bhatt to showcase her mentors life
Founder of Self-Employed Womens Association Ela Bhatt will pay tribute to her
mentor Anasuya Sarabhai by opening an exhibition on her life on the 40th
anniversary of SEWA on Saturday, which also happens to be the late Sarabhais
birthday.
Bhatt says that Motaben as Sarabhai was known, inspired and influenced my
vision of the labour movement and my work at SEWA and her work has shaped
the lives of 1.3 million self employed women in India.
Long before Sarabhai had joined hands with Mahatma Gandhi to lead the historic
strike of mill workers in Ahmedabad which led to the founding of Textile Labour
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Association in 1920, she had already led a successful strike by herself in 1917.
SEWA was born of the TLA in 1972, the year in which Sarabhai passed away.
The exhibition which will be on till November 30, will be housed in Shantisadan in
Mirzapur, where Sarabhai began her movement.
Harvard honours SEWA founder Ela Bhatt Boston, May 27 (PTI)
Ela Bhatt, the founder of NGO Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), was
today awarded the Radcliffe Institute Medal by Harvard University's Radcliffe
Institute for Advanced Study here in recognition of her ''life and work that have
benefited society''.Bhatt was presented the medal, awarded annually to individuals who have
substantially and positively influenced society, on Radcliffe Day, a traditional
event that follows Harvard's Commencement ceremonies.
"When women have an income of their own, they are able to fight their own battlesin their own way. For that, economic freedom is the key," Bhatt said."In my
experience women are the key to building holistic communities," she added.
Although her workers still occupy the "margins" of society, "it is from the marginsthat real transformation comes to the centre," Bhatt said.Bhatt founded SEWA in
1972.Conceived as a women's trade union, SEWA has grown into an NGO that offers
microlending, health and life insurance, and child careall overseen by morethan a hundred women-run cooperatives.
SEWA membership has grown to about 1.3 million."The Radcliffe Institute is
proud to honour her this year, in which gender in the developing world is one of itsdominant themes," the Institute said.
Bhatt has been recognised for her long battle for social justice. In November last
year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had honoured Bhatt at the Global FairnessInitiative Award.
Radcliffe Day is the Institute's annual celebration of women, as well as the alumni
and fellows of Radcliffe College and the Radcliffe Institute.
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The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University is a scholarlycommunity where individuals pursue advanced work across a wide range of
academic disciplines, professions and creative arts.
Within this broad purpose, the institute sustains a continuing commitment to the
study of women, gender, and society.
Ela Bhatt the founder of the Self-Employed Womens
Association (SEWA)
Ela Bhatt, the founder of the Self-Employed Womens Association (SEWA), iswidely recognized as one of the world's most remarkable pioneers and
entrepreneurial forces in grassroots development. Known as the "gentle
revolutionary," and a follower of the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, she has
dedicated her life to improving the lives of India's poorest and most oppressed
citizens.
Ela Bhatt established SEWA in 1972, and the trade union has now grown to more
than 1 million members. She led SEWA to form a cooperative bank in 1974,
which offers microcredit loans to help women become financially independent.
Ela Bhatt was a member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament (the Rajya
Sabha) and subsequently a member of the Indian Planning Commission. She
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founded and served as chair for Womens World Banking, the Internat ional
Alliance of Home-based Workers (HomeNet), Street Vendors (StreetNet) and of
Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing Organizing
(WIEGO). For a decade she also served as a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation.
She has received many awards, including the Padmashree, the Ramon Magsaysay
Award, the Right Livelihood Award, the George Meany-Lane Kirkland Labor
Rights Award by the AFL-CIO of the United States, the Lgion dhonneur by
France, the Madrid Creatividad Award, and the CGAE (Consejo General de la
Abogacia Espaola The General Council of Spanish Lawyers) Human Rights
Award in Spain. In 2010 she will receive the 27th Niwano Peace Prize. In addition
she has received honorary doctorate degrees from a number of universities,
including Harvard, Yale, and Natal. She is a member of the Council of The Elders
brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007, and authored the book We Are Poor
but So Many, published by Oxford University Press in 2006.
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SEWA Self Employed Womens Association
History:-
The Self Employed Women's Assoication. SEWA was born 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 a
women, Anasuya Sarabhai. The inspiration for the union came from Mahatma
Gandhi, who led a successful strike of textile workers in 1917. He believed in
creating positive organised strength by awakening the consciousness in workers.
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 wokers and its work was focussed largly on
traning and welfare activities. By 1968, classes in sewing, knitting embroidery,
spinning, press composition typing and stenography were established in centres
throughout the city for the wives and daughters of mill workers.
The scope of its activities expanded in the early 1970's when a survery was
conducted to probe complaints by women tailors. of exploitation by contractors.
The survey broght out other instances of exploitatation of women workers and
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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 organising.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 recognised 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 organised sector often came into conflict with the
demands of SEWA, representing unorganised women workers. The conflict came
to a head in 1981 during the anti-reservation riots when members of higher castes
attacked the Harijans, many of whom were members of both TLA and SEWA.
SEWA spoke out in defense of the Harijans, whereas TLA remained silent.
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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.
Introduction:-
SEWA is a trade union registered in 1972. It is an organisation of poor, self-
employed women workers. These 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 organised sector. They are the unprotectedlabour force of our country. Constituting 93% of the labour force, these are
workers of the unorganised sector. Of the female labour force in India, more than
94% are in the unorganised sector. However their work is not counted and hence
remains invisible. In fact, women workers themselves remain uncounted,
undercounted and invisible.
SEWAs main goals are to organise women workers for full employment. Full
employment means employment whereby workers obtain work security, income
security, food security and social security (at least health care, child care and
shelter). SEWA organises women to ensure that every family obtains full
employment. By self-reliance we mean that women should be autonomous and
self-reliant, individually and collectively, both economically and in terms of their
decision-making ability.
At SEWA we organise workers to achieve their goals of full employment and self
reliance through the strategy of struggle and development. The struggle is against
the many constraints and limitations imposed on them by society and the economy,
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while development activities strengthen womens bargaining power and offer them
new alternatives. Practically, the strategy is carried out through the joint action of
union and cooperatives. Gandhian thinking is the guiding force for SEWAs poor,
self-employed members in organising for social change. We follow the principles
of satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence), sarvadharma (integrating all faiths, all
people) and khadi (propagation of local employment and self reliance).
SEWA is both an organisation and a movement. The SEWA movement is
enhanced by its being a sangam or confluence of three movements : the labour
movement, the cooperative movement and the womens movement. But it is also a
movement of self-employed workers : their own, home-grown movement with
women as the leaders. Through their own movement women become strong and
visible. Their tremendous economic and social contributions become recognised
With globalization, liberalization and other economic changes, there are both new
opporunities as well as threats to some traditional areas of employment.
More than ever, our members are ready to face the winds of change. They know
that they must organise to build their own strength and to meet challenges. There
are still millions of women who remain in poverty and are exploited, despite their
long hours of hard labour. They bear the brunt of the changes in our country and
must be brought into the mainstream, so as to avail of the new opportunities that
are developing with regard to employment.
Also there is much to be done in terms of strengthening womens leadership, their
confidence, their bargaining power within and outside their homes and their
representation in policy-making and decision-making fora. It is their issues, their
priorities and needs which should guide and mould the development process in our
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country. Toward this end, SEWA has been supporting its members in capacity-
builiding and in developing their own economic organisations.
Goals of SEWA :-
In our experience, poor womens growth, development and employment occurs
when they have work and income security and food security. It also occurs when
they are healthy, able to access child care and have a roof over their heads. In order
to ensure that we are moving in the direction of our two goals ofFullEmployment and Self Reliance, constant monitoring and evaluation is required.
In a membership-based organisation, it is the members priorities and needs which
necessarily shapes the priorities and direction of the organisation. Hence, it is
appropriate that member's themselves develop their own yardstick for evaluation.
The following ten question have emerged from the members and continually serve
as a guide for all members, group leaders, executive committee members and full-
time organisers of SEWA. It is also useful for monitoring SEWAs progress and
the relevance of its various activities and their congruence with members reality
and priorities. It also increases the accountability of SEWAs leaders and
organisers, to their members.
The Eleven Questions of SEWA :
Have more members obtained more employment ?
Has their income increased ?
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Have they obtained food and nutrition ?
Has their health been safeguarded ?
Have they obtained child-care?
Have they obtained or improved their housing ?
Have their assets increased ? (e.g. their own savings, land, house, work-space,
tools or work, licenses, identity cards, cattled and share in cooperatives; and all in
their own name.
Have the workers organisational strength increased ?
Has workers leadership increased ?
Have they become self-reliant both collectively and individually ?
Have they become literate?
Questions 1 to 7 are linked to the goal of full employment while 8 to 11 are those
concerned with SEWAs goal of self reliance. However each of these are
interconnected to each other. In 1998 "aagewans" suggested including education
in the broadest sense as the eleventh question to be addressed by SEWA. We have
included this as part of the members yardstick
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SEWA's Structure
SEWA is registered as a trade union under the Indian Trade Unions Act of 1926.
The union is open for membership to self-employed women workers all over India.The membership fee is Rs. 5 per year. The union is governed by a two-tier level of
elected representation. The members of each trade elect their representatives in theratio of 1 representative per 100 members. These representatives then form the
Trade Council (Pratinidhi Mandal). In addition, and parallel to the Trade Councilare Trade Committees(Dhandha Samiti) in each trade. The Trade Committee has
no fixed proportion to number of members but varies between 15 to 50 members.
The Trade Committees meet every month and discuss the problems of their tradesand possible solutions to them. Trade Council members are members of theirrespective Trade Committees as well. The organiser of a trade group is the
Member Secretary of that group's Trade Committee.
Every three years the Trade Council elects an Executive Committee of 25members. The representation on the Executive Committee reflects the proportion
of the membership.
The office-bearers of the trade union are elected from among the Executive
members. It has become a practice to elect the President from the trade with the
largest membership.
SEWA's Membership
Self-Employed Women Workersour
embers
SEWA members are workers who haveno fixed employee-employer relationshipand depend on their own labour for
survival. They are poor, illiterate and
vulnerable. They barely have any assetsor working capital. But they are extremely
economically active, contributing very
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significantly to the economy and society
with their labour. In fact, 64% of GDP isaccounted for by the selfemployed of
our country. There are Four types of self-
employed women workers:
Hawkers, vendors and small businesswomen like vegetable, fruit, fish, egg
and other vendors of food items,household goods and clothes vendors :
Home-based workers like weavers,
potters, bidi and agarbatti workers,
papad rollers, ready-made garmentworkers, women who process
agricultural products and artisans, and
Manual labourers & service providerslike agricultural labourers, construction
workers, contract labourers, handcart
pullers, headloaders, domestic
workers and laundry workers. Inaddition to these three categories there
is emergence of another categoryof women workers.
Producers & Services who invest theirlabour and capital to carry out their
businesses. This category includesAgriculture, cattle rearers , salt
workers, gum collectors, cooking &vending etc.
2008 SEWA
Membership
All India
Membership
9,66,139
Gujarat
Membership
5,19,309
All - India Membership year - 2008
State Membership
Gujarat 5,19,309
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Bihar- Munger- Bhagalpur
12,000
Murshidabad 1,758
Delhi 15,771
Rajasthan- Bikaner- Dungarpur
- Jaipur
- Ajmer
- Jodhpur
5,0353,300
550
100
183
Madhya
Pradesh- SEWA -
Indore
3,82,000
Uttar
Pradesh- Bareli- Lucknow
40224,100
Kerala-
Trivandrum
675
Dehradhun 954
Total 9,66,139
Gujarat Membership by Trade 2008
Main Categories of workers No. of women
Manual Labourers and Service
Providers3,29,507
Home based workers 86,962
Hawkers &Vendors 57,010
Producers 45,830
Total 5,19,309
Gujarat Membership - Rural - Urban 2008
Main categories of
orkers
No. of
omen
Percentage of
total
membership
Urban 1,78,736 34.42
Rural 3,40,573 65.58
Total 5,19,309 100.00
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Growth of SEWA's Membership : 1972-2008 (India)
Year GujaratIndia
1972 1070 1070
1977 1948 1948
1982 10733 107331987 15144 15144
1990 25911 25911
1991 46076 46076
1992 38136 45936
1993 42280 53570
1994 75615 143702
1995 158152 218797
1996 162781 212016
1997 159204 211124
1998 142810 2092501999 147618 215234
2000 205985 318527
2001 284317 420208
2002 535674 694551
2003 469306 704166
2004 468445 688743
2005 475308 796755
2006 483012 959698
2007 551974 1123542
2008 519309 966139
While the overall trend is upward, there have been periods of
fluctuation over the past decade. Membership increases
occurred as a result of campaigns which developed into mass
movements in some rural districts, concrete gains from
organising of some categories of workers like vendors and
home based workers and also be cause of support during
crises.
Over the years, the complexion of SEWA's membership has
changed significantly. In 2006, of SEWA's 4,83,012 strong
membership in Gujarat, 60.77% was rural and 39.23% urban.
Within our four major occupational categories, the picture wasas follows:
1.Hawkers &
vendors
- 53,053
members10.98%
2.
Home-
based
workers
- 69,795
members14.45%
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3.
Manual
Labourerers
Service
Providers
-
3,35,065
members
69.37%
4.Producers
& Services
- 25,099
members5.20%
Till 1994, SEWA's membership was predominantly urban. This
was partly due to our origins and base being at Ahmedabad.
However, in the late eighties, SEWA intensified its rural
organising, with the resultant increase in membership from
rural areas.
SEWA SERVICES
Supportive services like savings and credit, health care, child care, insurance, legalaid, capacity building and communication services are important needs of poor
women. If women are to achieve their goals of full employment and self-reliance,these services are essential. Recognising the need for supportive services, SEWA
has helped women take a number of initiatives in organising these services forthemselves and their SEWA sisters. Many important lessons have been learnt in
the process of organising supportive services for and by poor women. Theyprovide these services in a decentralised and affordable manner, at the doorsteps of
workers. Further, supportive services can be and are themselves a source of self-
employment. For example, midwives charge for their services and creche workerscollect fees for taking care of young children.
Also, women are ready to pay for the services and in fact, this results in thefinancial viability of the supportive services. They do not have to be totally
dependent on subsidies and grants. Some supportive services like savings and
credit, health and child care have formed their own co-operatives. these
cooperatives have gained operational self sufficiency.
SEWA bank has achieved financial viability for many years now, while the othercooperatives are steadily moving towards this.
Sewa Bank Legal Services
Health Care
Capacity
building of
Sewa Members
http://www.sewa.org/Services_Bank.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Legal_Services.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Health_Care.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Capacity_Building.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Capacity_Building.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Capacity_Building.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Capacity_Building.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Capacity_Building.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Capacity_Building.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Capacity_Building.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Health_Care.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Legal_Services.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Bank.asp7/28/2019 Ela Bhatt Entrepreneur
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Child CareHousing and
Infrastructure
VimoSEWA(SEWAInsurance)
Video Sewa
SISTER ORGANIZATIONS
Shri
Gujarat
Mahila
Lok
Swasthya
Sewa
Sahakari
Mandali
Ltd.
www.lokswasthya.org
Shree Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank Ltd.
www.sewabank.com
SEWA Academy
www.sewaacademy.org
SEWA Insurance
www.sewainsurance.org
Gujarat Mahila Housing SEWA Trust
www.sewahousing.org
Sewa Trade facilitation Centre
www.sewatfc.org Sewa Gram Mahila Haat
www.sewamart.com
SEWA Research
www.sewaresearch.org
Sewa Manager ni School
www.sewamanagernischool.org
SEWA ICT
www.sewaict.org
Sewa Sanskarkendra
www.sewasanskarkendra.org
Video SEWA
www.videosewa.org
Shri Mahila SEWA Anasooya Trust
www.anasooya.org
Sewa Eco Tourism
www.sewaecotourism.org
Hansiba
http://www.sewa.org/Services_Child_Care.asphttp://www.sewahousing.org/http://www.sewahousing.org/http://www.sewa.org/Services_Work_Security_Insurance.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Work_Security_Insurance.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Video.asphttp://lokswasthya.org/http://www.sewabank.com/http://www.sewabank.com/http://www.sewaacademy.org/http://www.sewaacademy.org/http://www.sewainsurance.org/http://www.sewainsurance.org/http://www.sewahousing.org/http://www.sewahousing.org/http://www.sewatfc.org/http://www.sewamart.com/http://www.sewamart.com/http://www.sewaresearch.org/http://www.sewamanagernischool.org/http://www.sewamanagernischool.org/http://www.sewaict.org/http://www.sewasanskarkendra.org/http://www.sewasanskarkendra.org/http://www.videosewa.org/http://www.videosewa.org/http://www.anasooya.org/http://www.anasooya.org/http://www.sewaecotourism.org/http://www.sewaecotourism.org/http://www.anasooya.org/http://www.videosewa.org/http://www.sewasanskarkendra.org/http://www.sewaict.org/http://www.sewamanagernischool.org/http://www.sewaresearch.org/http://www.sewamart.com/http://www.sewatfc.org/http://www.sewahousing.org/http://www.sewainsurance.org/http://www.sewaacademy.org/http://www.sewabank.com/http://lokswasthya.org/http://www.sewa.org/Services_Video.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Work_Security_Insurance.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Services_Work_Security_Insurance.asphttp://www.sewahousing.org/http://www.sewahousing.org/http://www.sewa.org/Services_Child_Care.asp7/28/2019 Ela Bhatt Entrepreneur
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www.sewatfc.org
Sewa Kalakruti
www.sewakalakruti.org
SEWA Bharat
www.sewabharat.org
Homenet South Asiawww.homenetsouthasia.org
Sewa Nirman
SEWA Nirman
http://www.sewatfc.org/http://www.sewakalakruti.org/http://www.sewabharat.org/http://www.sewabharat.org/http://www.homenetsouthasia.org/index.phphttp://www.homenetsouthasia.org/index.phphttp://www.sewa.org/Sewa_Nirman.asphttp://www.sewa.org/Sewa_Nirman.asphttp://www.homenetsouthasia.org/index.phphttp://www.sewabharat.org/http://www.sewakalakruti.org/http://www.sewatfc.org/