Full Form of SEWA – Self Employed Women Association

SEWA is a trade union that was established in 1972. Full form of SEWA is Self Employed Women Association. It’s a group of disadvantaged, self-employed female laborers. These are women who make a living by working for themselves or running small enterprises. They do not have the same access to regular paying jobs with benefits as workers in the organized sector. They are our country’s unprotected labour force.

These are workers in the unorganized sector, who make up 93 percent of the workforce. It is around 94% of Indian women that have been employed in the unorganised sector of workforce. Their work, however, is not counted and hence goes unnoticed.

SEWA’s Objective

SEWA’s main objectives are to organize women workers in order to achieve full employment. Full employment refers to a situation in which employees have job security, income security, food security, and social security (at least health care, child care and shelter). SEWA brings together women to ensure that every family has access to full-time employment.

By self-reliance, we mean that women should be independent and self-reliant, both monetarily and in terms of their decision-making ability, both individually and collectively.

History of SEWA

In 1971, a small group of migrant women working as cart-pullers in Ahmedabad’s cloth market, along with their labour contractor, came to the TLA. He had heard of a TLA-organized transport workers’ union and felt they would be able to assist the women in finding homes. The women were homeless and living on the streets at the time. They were directed to Ela Bhatt, the Women’s Wing’s Head.

After speaking with the women in her office, she accompanied them to their homes and the market where they worked. While she was there, she encountered a group of ladies who worked as head-loaders, transporting quantities of clothing from wholesale to retail marketplaces.

Soon after, word of this successful ruse got out, and a group of second-hand clothing traders approached the Women’s Wing with their own complaints. Over a hundred women attended a public conference of used clothing vendors. A woman in the crowd proposed they start their own group during the gathering in a public park.

SEWA’s Composition

The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) was founded in December 1971 in response to a call from the women and on the initiative of Ela Bhatt, the leader of the Women’s Wing, and Arvind Buch, the president of the TLA.

SEWA’s rise was aided by the start of the Women’s Decade in 1975, which positioned it within the women’s movement. Ela Bhatt, SEWA’s General Secretary, was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1977, bringing SEWA international acclaim.

The relationship between SEWA and TLA had deteriorated by 1981. The dispute reached a head in 1981 during anti-reservation riots, when members of higher castes attacked Harijans, many of whom were TLA and SEWA members. TLA kept mute while SEWA spoke out in support of the Harijans. TLA expelled SEWA from its ranks due to its outspokenness.

Wrapping Up

SEWA grew even quicker after its split from TLA and launched additional activities. SEWA has taken on a new shape and direction as a result of the emergence of many new co-operatives, a more militant trade union, and other supportive services.