In Gandhi’s birthplace, in 1972, a labor lawyer named Ela Bhatt [pronounced Eela But] gave birth to a union comprised of home-based workers, market vendors, cart-pullers and head-load carriers, agricultural and construction laborers, and other unrecognized forms of low-paid work done by women. Ela Bhatt died November 2, 2022, but her legacy lives on. The horizontally-organized Self-Employed Women’s Association is reported to have more than 2 million members today, helping each other negotiate for wages and benefits, taking cases to court, offering training, making loans, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two producers from Bangalore travelled to Ahmedabad in Gujarat state to cover this movement for WINGS. Smita Ramanathan and Manju Venkat interviewed 14 women for this 2-part series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interviewees in Part 1: Manali Shah, Vice President of SEWA; Pratibha Pandya, Administrative Officer; Kapila ben*, President; Jyoti Macwan, general secretary; Rajiben, Trade representative for the ragpickers; Anisa Sheikh, Representative for the Incense stick rollers; Jayashree Vyas, Managing Director of SEWA’s Cooperative Bank*The term “ben” is an honorific – it means “sister.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n