SEWA Full Form

Self-Employed Women's Association is the full form of SEWA. Ela Bhatt's initiative saw the creation of this low-wage, independent women's trade union in April 1972. It is recognized by the Indian Trade Unions Act of 1926. In order to organise women who work for themselves in the unorganised sector of the economy and support their collective fight for social justice, equality, and fair treatment, the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) was founded in 1972. It is a membership-based organisation.

It is primarily an association of low-income, independent women workers who make a living through jobs, businesses, and projects. Over 94 percent of all female employees in India work for unorganised companies. They would not be eligible for daily wage jobs with social security like the women workers in the organised sectors are. In addition to giving voice to the many yet unprotected women workers, SEWA works to assure the social, economic, and employment security of all of its members and to advance women's leadership at the micro, meso, and macro levels.

Initially active in cities, SEWA was established in Gujarat as a legally recognized labour union. It has been effectively extending outside of Gujarat since the 1980s and into rural areas. Since 2000, it has experienced tremendous membership growth, going from 318,000 members to 1.75 million in 2012. Currently, 66% of its members are from rural areas, a sizable majority. Currently, SEWA operates in 12 states, 50 districts, and 700 villages across the nation.

Purpose Of The SEWA

The SEWA's primary goals are given below:

• SEWA aims to achieve self-reliance and full employment for all of its participants.

• Full employment entails work, which ensures the security of the workers' safety, money, diet, social protection, etc.

• Self-reliance refers to the need for female workers to be independent and self-sufficient on a personal, social, financial, and decision-making level.

Structure Of SEWA

• SEWA is open to all independent female workers in India. The annual membership cost is only Rs. 5. A two-tiered level of elected representatives oversees the union's operations. Members of each trade elect the representatives, who then come together to create the Trade Council (Pratinidhi Mandal). In addition, each trade also has a trade committee (Dhandha Samiti), which works in tandem with the trade council.

• The trade council chooses 25 people to serve on the Executive Committee every three years. The executive members of the union elect the office holders, and the president is chosen from the trade with the largest membership.

The SEWA's Four Cornerstones

An organisation that supports women in managing their businesses and trades adopts an integrated strategy by:

• Organising - Women work together to develop, carry out, and evaluate initiatives that are intended just for them.

• Building - one's ability to compete effectively in the market by the use of infrastructure, instruction, technology, information, and other resources.

• Social security - By offering assistance, shelter, health care, and childcare to help female workers manage ongoing hazards.

• Capital formation- SEWA offers financial services to households so they can start and grow their assets.

Goals Of SEWA

Employment: The Karmika School for Construction Workers was established in 2003 to aid in training women in the construction trades by the SEWA Mahila Housing Trust, which Renana Jhabvala formed among others. In 2003, women accounted for 51% of workers in the building trades in India, although the majority of these women were unskilled labourers. According to a 2007 study of Karmika alumni, 40% said they worked 21–30 days per month after training, compared to 26% who said the same before training. 20 percent became masons themselves, while 30 percent became mason assistants. These advances primarily come from modest private building projects, including houses, but placing women in the more lucrative public infrastructure projects has been difficult.

Food and dietary needs: Programs to provide food grain to Gujarat were created as a result of SEWA's quest for food security. During natural disasters like floods and droughts, the child care centres established by SEWA have responded by providing essential food and other emergency supplies and assistance. With 25 childcare facilities, the two districts of Surendranagar and Patan in particular were able to provide not only childcare but also food, water, and shelter in response to droughts, epidemics, cyclones, floods, and the earthquake in 2001.

Health: In 1984, SEWA started providing health insurance to its members for an annual fee of Rs 85. One of their main undertakings is now the health sector. [31] Since 1992, Vimo SEWA has offered its members and their families life and hospitalisation insurance for as little as Rs 100 per person. In 2005, enrollment exceeded 130,000 students.

Self-reliance: Personal interviews conducted in July 1998 revealed that women who have worked with SEWA in their communities feel more self-assured and are treated with more tremendous respect by the males. In one instance, they were better at managing cooperative companies than the men who had previously run those businesses in the community of Baldana. The cooperative had previously been losing money. SEWA aided in the transition to female management. On the grounds of increased profitability, the village's men "forcefully ousted women. Soon, corruption caused significant losses once more, prompting SEWA and women's intervention.

How Does SEWA Work?

The struggle and growth-based strategy used by SEWA enables female employees to achieve economic advancement and independence.

The struggle is also against the constraints society and the business place on these women employees. Growth also entails giving women better economic prospects and increasing their negotiation power.

Unions and cooperatives work together to put this strategy into practice.