Sewa Bharat

The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is a labour union of poor self-employed women workers in the informal economy. Since its inception in 1972 by Smt. Ela Bhatt in Gujarat, SEWA has actively employed women with no employer or fixed employer-employee relationship. These women are often not represented by traditional trade unions, and their methods of organisation cannot be employed in a sector in which the work and employers are not recognised. SEWA was born in the shape of a confluence of three movements: labour, cooperative and women. The rapid progress made by SEWA in organising women in Gujarat lead to a demand for creation of similar organisations in other states too. SEWA Bharat was thus set up in 1982 in response to this demand. Its main aim is to facilitate the formation of new member organisations across the country and to promote their growth and development. SEWA Bharat is, therefore, a federation of SEWA member organisations, with the mandate to highlight issues concerning women working in the informal sector, and to strengthen the capacity of the organisations that serve the interests of these women. Presently nine such SEWA member organisations are working in 50 districts of Nine states, and together they accounted for a total membership around 13 lakhs and counting. SEWA Bharat concentrates on the following-Employment -Income -Nutritious food -Health Care -Housing -Asset -Organised Strength -Leadership -Self Reliance -Education -Child Care