Ela Bhatt, who dedicated her life to women’s empowerment and gender justice for women in the workforce, passed away at the age of 89 recently.
Diversity Digest presents her contribution to the cause that aimed to equip them with the ecosystem rather than banking on charity:
- In the 1970s, she started the Self-Employed Women’s Association or SEWA, which has served as a safety and security net for women with retirement accounts and health insurance, benefitting over 2 million women.
- In turn, SEWA founded four organizations that served as an enabling mechanism for poor women workers to strive and come out of the circle of poverty and vulnerability.
- Working closely with rural women who were handicraft workers and craftspersons, she enabled them to sell directly to consumers in urban areas, creating a network of economic empowerment.
- She also formed the Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank, which aimed to provide economic freedom and self-sufficiency for women.
