From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

FROM POVERTY TO POWERBOX 3.5INDIA’S WOMEN ORGANISEThe Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), established in1972, is a union of low-income working women who earn theirlivelihoods by running small businesses, doing sub-contractingwork, or selling their labour. It is the first trade union of workersin the informal economy, not only in India but in the world. Withover 950,000 members in 2006, SEWA is also the largest tradeunion in India.SEWA groups its membership into four broad occupationalcategories:1. hawkers and vendors, who sell a range of products includingvegetables, fruit, and used clothing from baskets, push carts,or small shops;2. home-based producers, who stitch garments, makepatchwork quilts, roll hand-made cigarettes (bidis) orincense sticks, prepare snack foods, recycle scrap metal,process agricultural products, produce pottery, or makecraft items;3. manual labourers and service providers, who sell theirlabour (as cart-pullers, porters, or construction workers),or who sell services (such as wastepaper picking, laundryservices, or domestic services); and4. rural producers, including small farmers, milk producers,animal rearers, nursery raisers/tenders, salt farmers, andgum collectors.SEWA pursues a mix of what it calls ‘struggle’ and ‘development’– that is, unionising activities to improve pay and workingconditions – and investments to provide services and promotealternative economic opportunities. Over the years, it has built anetwork of institutions in both rural and urban areas:• SEWA Union (the primary organisation to which all membersbelong and which provides overall governance);• SEWA Bank (which provides financial services, includingsavings and credit);162