OUR VISIT TO INDIA
SEWA
It is early morning in India. Long before the city wakes up, women are already at work – sorting waste, stitching garments, preparing goods in their homes. Their labour keeps families and cities running, yet for generations it has gone unseen.
This is where Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) begins. The organisation was founded in 1972 by Ela Bhatt, and was built on a simple but radical idea: women in the informal economy are workers – and they matter. At the time SEWA had just 50 members. Today, more than 3.78 million women are part of it.
From invisible work to recognised lives
In India, 93% of workers are employed in the informal economy. Sixty percent of them are women. Most work from their homes or on the margins of cities, without contracts, social protection, or recognition. SEWA changes this – not by speaking for women, but by organizing with them.
Membership in SEWA is not symbolic. Every member is an owner. Through SEWA, women receive an identity card that recognizes them as workers, opening doors to health care, childcare, housing support, pensions, and insurance. For many, this is the first time the state has ever acknowledged their existence as economic actors.
But the impact goes deeper than services. It is about belonging. About hearing, often for the first time: “You are not alone.”
Small savings. Big change.
During our project visit, we met young women whose lives tell the long story of SEWA’s impact.
One of them, 22 years old, spoke about her mother. Every day, her mother saved just one rupee. At the end of the month, it was 50 rupees – placed in a SEWA bank account in her own name. It was not the amount that changed their lives. It was the habit, the control, and the confidence.
SEWA’s cooperative bank has proven what many systems long denied: even the poorest women are bankable. All members are shareholders. All receive dividends. Assets are built in women’s names.
“Asset building in the name of women is the surest weapon in the fight against poverty.”
When one woman rises, families rise with her
Another story stayed with us. A young woman working with SEWA’s waste recyclers told us about her mother, who used to pick waste at a dump site. Her father struggled with alcohol. Her mother woke up before dawn, working so her children would not have to.
When she joined SEWA, everything began to shift. She started saving. She received training. Slowly, she moved from the dump site to becoming a leader for other waste pickers. Her children grew with her.
Today, one sibling is a nurse, another studies in college, and her brother works as a technician. The daughter now walks door to door, encouraging women to organize themselves and join SEWA.
“Without SEWA, I would have worked at the dump site, SEWA enabled my mother – and us – to see a wider world.”
Collective strength in Bhavnagar
In Bhavnagar, SEWA’s work shows what collective organisation looks like in practice.
Women who once worked alone in their homes now work together. They have access to better tools and equipment, increasing productivity and income. They know the value of their materials and can negotiate with contractors instead of being cheated. Leadership training, knowledge of rights, health check-ups, and greater mobility have expanded not only their incomes, but their horizons.
So far:
12,000 women have been organized
3,000 women have received training
Knowledge centres support around 40 children every day
Impact that goes beyond income
The impact of SEWA is not measured only in numbers.
It is seen in women who recognize themselves as workers. In groups that speak with confidence and collective voice. In financial autonomy, savings, and wealth creation.
It is seen in children who stay longer in school. In women who become decision-makers in their own homes. In communities where hierarchy slowly gives way to dignity.
Looking ahead
SEWA’s vision is to formalize the informal economy, working with partners such as the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The future priorities are clear: reach more women, strengthen education and capacity building, build financial literacy, and increase resilience – including to climate change.
As SEWA enters its next chapter, the message from its members is simple and powerful:
Raise our aspirations. Clean our sky. Join hands in the fight against poverty.
SEWA shows that when women are given voice, visibility, and validity, they don’t just change their own lives – they change society from the ground up.
