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why women? in intro (Agarwal) Most impacted by this transition were and are women. Most women who work in the developing world work in the informal sector, earn significantly less wages than men in the informal sector

three movements (Gandhi http://sewa.org/About_Us.asp)

more on microfinance

more on research (http://www.sewaresearch.org/aboutus.htm)

SEWA Academy is the branch that produces publications and reports related to their mission.

WIEGO

"like savings and credit, health care, child care, insurance, legal aid, capacity building and communication services are important needs of poor women"

Microloans

---Introduction---

Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), meaning "service" in several Indian languages, is a trade union based in Ahmedabad, India that promotes the rights of low-income, independently-employed female workers.^[1] With over 2 million participating women, SEWA is the largest non-profit in India and is often recognized as the most influential union in the global informal economy.^[2] Self-employed women are defined as those who do not receive a salary like that of formally-employed workers and therefore have a more precarious income and life.^[3] SEWA is framed around the goal of full employment in which a women secures for her family: income, food, heath care, child care, and shelter.^[4] The principles behind accomplishing these goals are struggle and development, meaning negotiating with stakeholders and providing services, respectively.^[2][4] Women are the subject of this trade union because Indian history and culture has subjected them to patriarchal role of women that excludes them from regular, secure forms of labour.^[5]

(expand) SEWA was founded in 1972, by Gandhian and civil rights leader Ela Bhatt as a branch of Textile Labour Association (TLA) which was founded by Gandhi in 1918.^[6] SEWA separated from TLA in The organization grew very quickly, with 30,000 members in 1996, to 318,527 in 2000, to 1,919,676 in 2013.^[3][7]

---History---

TLA and Gandhian Roots

SEWA originated in 1972 as the Association's Women's Wing of Textile Labour Association (TLA) which was established by Gandhi in 1918.^[8] SEWA is located in Ahmedabad, India, the city where Gandhi's ashram still exists and once served to facilitate much of the Mahatma's work. Around the era of SEWA's establishment, Ahmedabad youths were enthusiastic to interact with the poor because of Gandhi's legacy in the city.^[5] Gandhi's ethos of collective mobilization led to the founding of TLA, which is a labor union generally concerned with textile labourers in the formal sector. While not explicitly stated, low-income labourers in the formal sector are more likely to be men because of cultural practice putting men in positions of security and higher status.^[5] Gender discrimination was even apparent in TLA, whose leading figures were all male during the time of SEWA's involvement in the organization. In 1981, TLA expelled SEWA from its organization for publicly supporting the rights of the Dalit caste.^[1] Despite the rift between TLA and SEWA, there are clear influences of the Mahatma in SEWA's principles of truth, non-violence, and integration of all people that shape the organization to be so successful.^[4]

In 1972, SEWA materialized first as a collective of women that worked outside the textile mills and other formalized sources of income--individuals not targeted by TLA.^[1]An early survey of SEWA members found that 97% lived in slums, 93% were illiterate, the average member had four children, and one in three were the primary bread-winner.^[1] It's first large project was the SEWA Cooperative Bank established in 1974 to provide loans to low-income members.^[1]

Behind all these accomplishments was SEWA's founder Ela Bhatt. Bhatt was born in Ahmedabad on 7 September 1933 to a Brahman caste family of lawyers and was, herself, a lawyer for TLA beginning in the early 1950s.^[5] Bhatt found that poor women in Ahmedabad were not just domestic workers, but conducted a variety of businesses at home--as hawkers, street vendors, construction labourers--and were not being represented in India's economy.^[5] Incredibly enough, 94% of Indian working women were self-employed 2009, yet it took until 1972 for any sort of informal labor union to form.^[9]

Tools for Struggle and Development

Development: micro-financing (Nussbaum);

Nearly 100 cooperatives and ownership of labour w/o middleman (Ela Bhatt)

Steps to organizing such a large union are outlined as follows:

1. Recruit members and assess needs of this unique cohort
2. Group members by trade, cooperative, region, etc.
3. Foster leadership within groups
4. Train leaders to promote SEWA programs either locally or within their profession
5. Elect members to positions of SEWA leadership councils^[10]