About
Sewa
The
Self Employed Women’s Association is a member-based
trade union of poor, self-employed women. The organization’s
goal is to organize poor working women to achieve full employment
and self-reliance. Doing so will provide these women with
work security, income security, food security and social security,
thereby raising them from poverty and giving them autonomy,
both economically and in terms of their decision-making ability.
SEWA
seeks to achieve its goal through the joint action of unions
and cooperatives. These organizing activities strengthen poor
working women’s bargaining power, which thereby allows
them to better struggle against the constraints imposed upon
them by society and the economy. The main objective of the
workers’ organizations is to expand the role of women
from producers to owners and managers, giving them direct
linkages with the market. In addition to increasing their
financial wellbeing, these organizations also empower members
and help them to develop their skills and capacities in all
aspects of their lives.
Activities
in support of members occur at all levels of society. Organization,
information dissemination and action regarding the rights
and wellbeing of its members comprise the bulk of SEWA’s
activities, whether it be at the village level, spreading
information on preventative healthcare through awareness campaigns,
or at the state and national levels, advocating for the inclusion
and extension of government programs to self-employed women.
Surveys, mass meetings, rallies, strikes, negotiations with
employers, workshops, training and capacity building, advocacy
and exposure visits – the list goes on and on; all are
tools in SEWA’s arsenal.
SEWA’s
national membership, as of 2002, stood at 688,566 women in
74 businesses and trades, in seven states of India. In general,
members fall into one of four categories: Home-based workers,
Vendors/Traders, Labourers and Service Providers, and Small
Producers. These categories encompass both rural and urban
members, although the former comprise two-thirds of the organization’s
membership. SEWA has also aided in the initiation of sister
organizations in South Africa, Turkey and Yemen.
While
SEWA now works in numerous trades and occupations in the informal
economy, at all levels of society, across India and internationally,
all of its organizations are based upon Gandhian philosophy
and have the following five characteristics in common:
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They
exist for the benefit of the self-employed women members |
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They
are owned by the self-employed women |
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They
are managed by the self-employed women |
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They
are democratically run |
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They
aim for self-reliance and sustainability, both at the
financial and managerial levels |
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