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We Are Poor but So Many: The Story of Self-Employed Women in India
Ela Bhatt is widely recognized as one of the world's most remarkable pioneers and entrepreneurial forces in grassroots development. Known as the "gentle revolutionary," she has dedicated her life to improving the lives of India's poorest and most oppressed citizens. In India, where 93 percent of the labor force are self-employed, 94 percent of this sector are women. Yet self-employed women have historically enjoyed few legal protections or worker's rights. In fact, most are illiterate and subject to exploitation and harassment by moneylenders, employers, and officials. Witnessing the terrible conditions faced by women working as weavers, stitchers, cigarette rollers, and waste collectors, Ela Bhatt began helping these women to organize themselves. In 1972, Ela Bhatt founded the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) to bring poor women together and give them ways to fight for their rights and earn better livings. Three years after SEWA was founded, it had 7,000 members. Today
it has a total membership of 700,000 women, making it the largest single primary trade union in India. Bhatt lead SEWA to form a cooperative bank in 1974 - with a share capital of $30,000 - that offered microcredit loans to help women save and become financially independent. Today the SEWA Cooperative Bank has $1.5 million in working capital and more than 30,000 depositors with a loan return rate of 94 percent. Through years of organization and strategic action, Ela Bhatt developed SEWA from a small, often ignored group into a powerful trade union and bank with allies around the world. During the last three decades, SEWA's efforts to increase the bargaining power, economic opportunities, health security, legal representation, and organizational abilities of Indian women have brought dramatic improvements to hundreds of thousands of lives and influenced similar initiatives around the globe. We Are Poor but So Many is a first-hand account of the vision, rise, and success of SEWA, in
India as well as internationally. The book begins with a history of the early days of SEWA and an exploration of the Ghandian philosophy that helped shape SEWA's formation and vision. It follows with an account of the struggles and challenges that SEWA faced in its journey and describes how these were addressed and overcome. It then explores the freedom that SEWA has facilitated for women working in the informal economy by presenting several inspirational stories of individual SEWA members. The final chapter describes the international extension of SEWA's work, the challenges that women face in the informal economy worldwide, and how SEWA can be effectively replicated in other parts of the world. This volume is unique in that it will elaborate the specific experience and knowledge of Ela Bhatt in her and SEWA's journey and provide insights and knowledge that no outside researcher would ever be in a position to replicate.
it has a total membership of 700,000 women, making it the largest single primary trade union in India. Bhatt lead SEWA to form a cooperative bank in 1974 - with a share capital of $30,000 - that offered microcredit loans to help women save and become financially independent. Today the SEWA Cooperative Bank has $1.5 million in working capital and more than 30,000 depositors with a loan return rate of 94 percent. Through years of organization and strategic action, Ela Bhatt developed SEWA from a small, often ignored group into a powerful trade union and bank with allies around the world. During the last three decades, SEWA's efforts to increase the bargaining power, economic opportunities, health security, legal representation, and organizational abilities of Indian women have brought dramatic improvements to hundreds of thousands of lives and influenced similar initiatives around the globe. We Are Poor but So Many is a first-hand account of the vision, rise, and success of SEWA, in
India as well as internationally. The book begins with a history of the early days of SEWA and an exploration of the Ghandian philosophy that helped shape SEWA's formation and vision. It follows with an account of the struggles and challenges that SEWA faced in its journey and describes how these were addressed and overcome. It then explores the freedom that SEWA has facilitated for women working in the informal economy by presenting several inspirational stories of individual SEWA members. The final chapter describes the international extension of SEWA's work, the challenges that women face in the informal economy worldwide, and how SEWA can be effectively replicated in other parts of the world. This volume is unique in that it will elaborate the specific experience and knowledge of Ela Bhatt in her and SEWA's journey and provide insights and knowledge that no outside researcher would ever be in a position to replicate.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published December 15, 2005
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322 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 31, 2016
The buzzword these days is startups in all shapes and sizes. The oft forgotten fact is that India still has 98% of workers doing informal jobs which has rag pickers, tailors, embodier makers,construction worker, farmers, animal husbandry etc. Poor, tribal, uneducated, under banked, unhealthy women work in this sector.
Ela bhatt, conceived SEWA, a women's cooperative society to empower these ladies. These ladies came together doing miracles unthinkable by the government. They set up banks for the poor, health training, drug shops, nurseries, poultry farms, rag pickers cooperatives etc. The practical difficulties were generally the apathy of the public officers, the other established businesses, their own dire situations faced by the poor, the dam projects by the government. The point I clearly agree with is that for any project to be empowering and sustainable ,the concerned community must be full time participants, not passive spectators.
Ela bhatt, conceived SEWA, a women's cooperative society to empower these ladies. These ladies came together doing miracles unthinkable by the government. They set up banks for the poor, health training, drug shops, nurseries, poultry farms, rag pickers cooperatives etc. The practical difficulties were generally the apathy of the public officers, the other established businesses, their own dire situations faced by the poor, the dam projects by the government. The point I clearly agree with is that for any project to be empowering and sustainable ,the concerned community must be full time participants, not passive spectators.
August 2, 2019
This book is not only an extraordinary account of Ela Bhatt, a phenomenal Indian woman who changed the lives of millions of poor women in India but it also thoroughly tells tales of SEWA, a powerful cooperation founded by Ela Bhatt and run by poor women and women of India.
What is self-employed?
Being poor, women, and self–employed. In this particular story, self-employed is the situation where a lot of poor women doesn’t exist nor is protected in any organization or corporation–no healthcare insurance, no social security, no employment benefit, nothing. However, they would work in the unprotected condition, hard labor, with very little pay, day-to-day. They sell fruits and vegetables in the street, stitch in their homes at piece-rate for middlemen, work as laborers in wholesale commodity markets, load-unload merchandise, dig earth, collect recyclable garbage and on and on. Their income depends on how much they work. And because they are women, they get paid less than men. Most importantly, the burden of running the family had fallen to them–to earn money and feed the family.
Who is Ela Bhatt and SEWA?
If I didn’t have the reading goal nor hunt down the women pioneers around the world, I wouldn’t know even her name, let alone the impact of how she changed and is changing the world. Ela Bhatt was born and raised in India in Gandhian parents. She graduated and became a lawyer for Textile government firm. In 1972, A day called for life changing for her when she went on a field work one day and saw numbers of women headloaders working tirelessly with very little pay. She wanted to help, fought injustice and improved the lives of fellow Indian sisters. She approached one of the woman headloaders and interviewed her and discussed how she could help. Then another woman came to join, then another and another. Ela organized the meeting with them regularly, arranged ways to sort out a fair system with the middlemen and the government. They had a small office and called it Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) under Ela’s authority in Textile government office. But the government benefit nothing from SEWA and later fired them. Ela continued to run SEWA and the members continue to grow. She and the team went to the city slums and met with women rag pickers and provided help and support. Right around the time when SEWA started to grow rapidly, a bright and young Oxford grads heard about SEWA and asked to join. Now that SEWA became a powerful house, providing help and live improvement system to many poor women, it also became an ecosystem platform of the women helping each other. They went to investigate garment stitchers, street vendors, embroiders, gum collectors and so on. With a lot of members growing, they established their own Bank, ran by a former VP from the national bank who came to join SEWA. They also built a healthcare system to protect and support the member and their family. I want to strongly highlight that banking and healthcare are two very important infrastructures for all working people. All the members of SEWA is poor and they don’t have access to the credit and loan in the regular banks nor being protected by an organizational system. It was mind-blowing to me to learn about the SEWA community and how they created their dynamic empire with banking and healthcare system. SEWA, rebuilding the women’s lives-providing housing, credit, training, medical help, and the comfort and company of other working women. All these, strictly for poor, strictly for women and strictly run by women. SEWA was founded 47 years ago, in 2013 they have 1,916,676 members and continue to grow. This was only one act of compassion of a woman who fights for injustice. Ela Bhatt.
My personal take away from this powerful story was, first, entrepreneurship and startup. Although only after 2007 that these two words became trendy, but Ela is truly an original entrepreneur who wants to solve the problem and the way she put together the puzzle of unknown to improve lives, found SEWA and sustainably putting growth on it. Second, the power of network. I discovered along with the reading that the growth of SEWA attracted a lot of high profile women who simply wanted to help. It is a giant web of professionals who spread the goody. Fundamentally, the backbone of SEWA is the members itself. The women come together, hold hands, connect hearts, help each other and with the support system of SEWA, they recruit more women, provide help and support, all over India. Imagine the social, the culture, and the capital value they create?
When government fail to serve and support the citizens, the people rise and thrive on their own. SEWA could be a role model for many countries that are struggling with the country’s development and political crisis. Is this relate to you and your country?
The story of Ela Bhatt and SEWA inspire me in so many ways, especially as a woman who work 9-5 and is running a startup. I strongly hope that her name and her story will be in every corner of the world. I wish all the women look up to her. Ela Bhatt, the women pioneer.
This reading is in my yearly reading goal of #womenpioneer.
More on the reading list https://curiousbag.com/
What is self-employed?
Being poor, women, and self–employed. In this particular story, self-employed is the situation where a lot of poor women doesn’t exist nor is protected in any organization or corporation–no healthcare insurance, no social security, no employment benefit, nothing. However, they would work in the unprotected condition, hard labor, with very little pay, day-to-day. They sell fruits and vegetables in the street, stitch in their homes at piece-rate for middlemen, work as laborers in wholesale commodity markets, load-unload merchandise, dig earth, collect recyclable garbage and on and on. Their income depends on how much they work. And because they are women, they get paid less than men. Most importantly, the burden of running the family had fallen to them–to earn money and feed the family.
Who is Ela Bhatt and SEWA?
If I didn’t have the reading goal nor hunt down the women pioneers around the world, I wouldn’t know even her name, let alone the impact of how she changed and is changing the world. Ela Bhatt was born and raised in India in Gandhian parents. She graduated and became a lawyer for Textile government firm. In 1972, A day called for life changing for her when she went on a field work one day and saw numbers of women headloaders working tirelessly with very little pay. She wanted to help, fought injustice and improved the lives of fellow Indian sisters. She approached one of the woman headloaders and interviewed her and discussed how she could help. Then another woman came to join, then another and another. Ela organized the meeting with them regularly, arranged ways to sort out a fair system with the middlemen and the government. They had a small office and called it Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) under Ela’s authority in Textile government office. But the government benefit nothing from SEWA and later fired them. Ela continued to run SEWA and the members continue to grow. She and the team went to the city slums and met with women rag pickers and provided help and support. Right around the time when SEWA started to grow rapidly, a bright and young Oxford grads heard about SEWA and asked to join. Now that SEWA became a powerful house, providing help and live improvement system to many poor women, it also became an ecosystem platform of the women helping each other. They went to investigate garment stitchers, street vendors, embroiders, gum collectors and so on. With a lot of members growing, they established their own Bank, ran by a former VP from the national bank who came to join SEWA. They also built a healthcare system to protect and support the member and their family. I want to strongly highlight that banking and healthcare are two very important infrastructures for all working people. All the members of SEWA is poor and they don’t have access to the credit and loan in the regular banks nor being protected by an organizational system. It was mind-blowing to me to learn about the SEWA community and how they created their dynamic empire with banking and healthcare system. SEWA, rebuilding the women’s lives-providing housing, credit, training, medical help, and the comfort and company of other working women. All these, strictly for poor, strictly for women and strictly run by women. SEWA was founded 47 years ago, in 2013 they have 1,916,676 members and continue to grow. This was only one act of compassion of a woman who fights for injustice. Ela Bhatt.
My personal take away from this powerful story was, first, entrepreneurship and startup. Although only after 2007 that these two words became trendy, but Ela is truly an original entrepreneur who wants to solve the problem and the way she put together the puzzle of unknown to improve lives, found SEWA and sustainably putting growth on it. Second, the power of network. I discovered along with the reading that the growth of SEWA attracted a lot of high profile women who simply wanted to help. It is a giant web of professionals who spread the goody. Fundamentally, the backbone of SEWA is the members itself. The women come together, hold hands, connect hearts, help each other and with the support system of SEWA, they recruit more women, provide help and support, all over India. Imagine the social, the culture, and the capital value they create?
When government fail to serve and support the citizens, the people rise and thrive on their own. SEWA could be a role model for many countries that are struggling with the country’s development and political crisis. Is this relate to you and your country?
The story of Ela Bhatt and SEWA inspire me in so many ways, especially as a woman who work 9-5 and is running a startup. I strongly hope that her name and her story will be in every corner of the world. I wish all the women look up to her. Ela Bhatt, the women pioneer.
This reading is in my yearly reading goal of #womenpioneer.
More on the reading list https://curiousbag.com/
May 5, 2017
the first book that i was reading related to social studies of India. According to me what SEWA has done throughout India by empowering poor women or women of the un-organized sector by giving them work is a inspiring and encouraging.
When i first saw Ela bhatt on internet i found her a normal old women nothing much great about her ! though i was inspired by her views on poverty and that's it.But when i read the book i was awestruck by the amount of work this timid lady did. She had set up the largest co-operative group SEWA , sewa bank and many health and insurance related schemes for the poor.This book will change the perspective of employment and jobs that we see people doing. Her journey was amazing and throughout the book you would get so inspired by the poor women's will the fight for change, their thirst for education, and talent of earning money.This book also gives the beautiful insights on the day to day lives of the rural people how hard they are working and meager they are earning but they still daily they work. some of the nice quotes that i found were that "poor are subsiding the economy with hard work". And one this i got to know from this book is farmers are the sole producers who have no control over the price of their product but the control of their entire produce rest in the hands of the middle men who exploit these people .
When i first saw Ela bhatt on internet i found her a normal old women nothing much great about her ! though i was inspired by her views on poverty and that's it.But when i read the book i was awestruck by the amount of work this timid lady did. She had set up the largest co-operative group SEWA , sewa bank and many health and insurance related schemes for the poor.This book will change the perspective of employment and jobs that we see people doing. Her journey was amazing and throughout the book you would get so inspired by the poor women's will the fight for change, their thirst for education, and talent of earning money.This book also gives the beautiful insights on the day to day lives of the rural people how hard they are working and meager they are earning but they still daily they work. some of the nice quotes that i found were that "poor are subsiding the economy with hard work". And one this i got to know from this book is farmers are the sole producers who have no control over the price of their product but the control of their entire produce rest in the hands of the middle men who exploit these people .
February 17, 2019
It' a simply written beautiful book. The most interesting underlying aspect of each chapter is how they identify the problems, understand it, work out a solution, tries it out and there is nothing as complete failure and complete success in any of the chapters. It is so trustworthy. This is an awesome book to understand, how to work with people and not around them.
May 21, 2015
Ela Bhatt is the founder of SEWA, India - a trade union involved in both rural and urban development among women. In this book, she tells her story from an employee in the Textile Labour Association of Ahmedebad, India to the founder of one of the most popular and influential trade unions in India. This is the story of a woman whose organisation (with the help of the World Bank) is filling a gap that neither the market nor government could bridge. She describes the challenges she encountered, her failures and triumphs.
Today, millions of Indian women now have access to micro finance, training services and employment opportunities through SEWA. Following the one-dimensional definition of poverty by the World Bank, I could say that SEWA has raised several women out of extreme poverty. Solidarity, perseverance, determination and hope are the central themes of this book. Finally, the core of SEWA has been expanded to other countries and regions of the world including East Africa and Pakistan. This is a must read for anyone interested in development and women studies.
Today, millions of Indian women now have access to micro finance, training services and employment opportunities through SEWA. Following the one-dimensional definition of poverty by the World Bank, I could say that SEWA has raised several women out of extreme poverty. Solidarity, perseverance, determination and hope are the central themes of this book. Finally, the core of SEWA has been expanded to other countries and regions of the world including East Africa and Pakistan. This is a must read for anyone interested in development and women studies.
September 16, 2014
This book is an eye opener about the lives of poor, vulnerable and marginalised women in India. Though this book narrates the picture in Gujarat specifically but the situation of rest of the country is similar in most places. I wish the efforts of SEWA in other states and the stories of lives of people there are also published soon. What I liked the most about this book is it's very simple language and the poems and pictures that give a feel of the villages and tribes. It's a must read for any development worker who dreams to empower women.
December 5, 2007
read part of this for an evergreen class(India: Politics of Dance; Dance of Politics)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews