SEWA improves working en living conditions of the poorest women in India
Our partner, the Indian women's trade union Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), is improving the living conditions and livelihoods of the poorest women and their communities, who have no steady job and have to survive every day. SEWA helps the women become self-reliant and economically independent.
Context
Of all working women in India, 94% work in the informal sector. This means that they work without a safety net, reasonable wage agreements, regular health care or a pension plan. They do not have permanent jobs, but earn a little money here and there. They have a street corner shop in vegetables, fruit, fish, clothes or household articles, work as contract worker in construction, agriculture, roll cigarettes, sew clothes or weave at home, collect waste paper, push handcarts, transport cargo on their heads or are craftsmen.
The women together earn only one tenth of the Indian wage bill. This is mainly because they are women. They have few rights and also miss out on the opportunities and benefits of working in the formal economy.
SEWA: from a small group of women to a trade union with 2 million members
The Self Employed Womens Association has been active in organising women since 1972. And with success. SEWA has gradually grown into an influential national and international advocate for improving the living and working conditions of women in India. Its membership stands at nearly 2 million.
SEWA's projects give women a greater voice in a male-dominated society. They move up the social ladder and take greater leadership in their families and communities. Women who become stronger, by being able to be strong.
SEWA method
SEWA is committed to ensure sufficient employment for its members, in order for women workers to be sure of an income, sufficient food, social security, health care, childcare, insurance and shelter.
SEWA looks very pragmatically at what the women need, like:
- Training, via SEWA Academy. From technical agricultural skills to communication techniques (such as film), from bookkeeping to medicine. This makes the women more versatile, more secure and helps to increase their chances of alternative employment. This is especially important when it concerns seasonal employment.
- Banking services, such as micro-credits and savings programmes
- Legal help
- Childcare services
- Fighting child labour
- Health care services
- Practical small things like identity cards for street vendors so they have an identity which gives them access to facilities; mobile phones so they can quickly find out the daily price of vegetables or help each other if they are molested or chased away by the police.
Renewable energy project with SEWA (in Dutch)
Photo: Roderick Polak