Nearly three million working women in India belong to the Self Employed Women’s Association that began as a trade union in 1972. Since then, SEWA has organized poor women across India, seeking “full employment” for its members. Through solidarity, mutual cooperation, and women’s leadership, these home-based artisans, vegetable vendors, junk recyclers, farmers, construction workers, and cooks have started small businesses, established microfinance institutions, influenced domestic laws, and informed international policies. Their actions have disrupted the structural stranglehold on their lives, providing freedoms that allow them to move towards better futures. The women of SEWA elucidate alternative approaches to preparing us for the intractable challenges that lie ahead.
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2031