The interview is published in first person.

I am a product of the time when our country was fighting for independence. The atmosphere was rife with the spirit of nationalism. My teachers were nationalistic, and so were the people at home. My grandfather, a civil surgeon by training, got influenced by Gandhiji and joined the freedom movement, participated in the Dandi march, and went to jail. So did my uncles. My husband, whom I met in college, was also a student leader.

Women’s issues
I was not conscious of women’s issues and rights in my youth – I was, in fact, drawn towards the poor, and injustice meted out to them. After earning my Law degree, I joined a Textile labour union, as a lawyer, in Ahmedabad – a union started by Gandhiji in 1917. It was a unique union where workers were considered not just an economic component of the society but were considered to be at par with other members of the society – it was a path-breaking concept.

I joined the union with enthusiasm. In the beginning I did legal spadework but later I was asked to look after the Women’s wing of the TLA. It was a Gandhian labour union – so truth and non-violence were its two pillars.

Gandhiji had always emphasised the role of women, not just in the freedom movement but also in the development of the country. This being a Gandhian union, had a Women’s wing – the first of its kind in the country.

When I took charge of the Women’s wing, I was not happy with the middle-class approach towards women’s issues. All women’s programmes were welfare oriented towards making them good mothers and better housewives but their economic role was not recognised. The leadership of the union, which was middle class and high-caste, only addressed their roles as wives and mothers. In fact what women wanted was more income and earnings. So we began sewing classes for them and other vocational training programmes. Suddenly, I woke up to the fact that women were already an integral part of the informal sector – they were home-based workers and artisans – they worked on streets – they worked in rural as well as urban areas – they worked in construction, forests and fisheries sectors – they were to be seen working all over. It was then I felt that they should be organised. So, I started unionising them. I was sent to Israel for training, where I saw their model that combined, successfully, struggle and development. On my return, I organised the women workers as SEWA (Self employed women’s association). I set up SEWA in 1972 – as a labour and trade union.

We conducted a survey of women working in different trades and found two major issues: firstly, they were short of capital and highly exploited by private money lenders who would lend them monet at an interest rate of 10% per day; secondly, the women workers did not own their tools of trade – they rented their machines, carts etc. at an exorbitant rate and also had to pay the middleman.

In 1974, we therefore started a Co-operative Bank to address these two problems. The registration of the bank was not without problems. The bureaucratic question posed to us was – How could we have a bank of illiterates? How could we have a trade union if there is no employer? I had to argue very hard for a year. The purpose of a union is not to be against somebody but to bring the workers together and to bring in solidarity. Although there was no employer, yet there was an entire contract system – the women worked through a contractor, a sub-contractor, a sub-sub contractor – and then there was the police to contend with – police that had been exploiting the women. We had to fight against such structures. We had to bring in new definitions. It was very tough. My biggest problem was the conceptual block of policy-makers, the middle class and the educated class! In fact we are still fighting that mindset.

The union and the bank started working together as joint action for struggle and development. Both were first of their kind in India. There are several micro finance institutions but not where women themselves are the managers, owners and users. We chose to go mainstream. The response from women was very positive. One has never felt frustrated or disappointed. There is always hope.

I headed the National Commission of self-employed women and travelled extensively in 18 states. We gathered evidence from 4000 women’s groups in 2 years. In every group one found 1 or 2 women who were defiant, restless with the status quo and ready to bring about a change. They also knew that they had certain rights but not beyond that. They were ready to get organised and ready to absorb new ideas and assistance. This was in 1986. Our survey was a tool to organise women workers.

Empowerment of women

Women have shown the way to fight both poverty and wrath of nature. SEWA has been working in the desert areas of Gujarat, and as a result 80% of the forced migration has ceased. Because the women were given the means to earn and supported with health care and insurance through an integrated programme, they were able to green their land with 6 million trees and consequently regenerated the local ecology. Forced migration, brought on by famine etc., is the worst tragedy. It is the women who are the leaders in change and without their participation poverty can never be removed. This is a continuous process. Empowerment is not something that can be given or taken back – it is a process. It is not a noun – it is only a verb.

Globalisation and liberalisation have created a lot of new opportunities but at the same time have also made many age-old traditional occupations redundant – a painful result. In the coming decade, therefore, we will be organising and preparing women workers for new technology that is suitable to them, which will link them to a global market, and also provide them access to financing services. We are also doing immense work in the area of capacity building – using financial and human resources, new technology and new markets. Village women are now benefiting from the global markets through the use of computers and upgrading of skills. We have only opened a window for them.

We have initiated training programmes in areas of Information Technology, electronics and marketing – especially for the younger generation. They have to be equipped to manage their own affairs. They have to be financially viable and also be able to take decisions. It is a long, painful and a challenging process, which in itself is an empowering process.

10,000 women artisans now have work and income all year round. Three generations of women within a family have work, while their men folk, in many instances, are unemployed.

We are now struggling to set up our own insurance co-operative. Although we have the confidence to run an insurance programme for our members, we are fighting the rules and regulations that will not allow us to run such a programme.

There have been difficult days but I have never felt disappointed or frustrated.

The Road Ahead

One no longer needs to motivate women on education, family planning, or savings. There is an entire generation of motivated women who are doing the task of motivating their young ones. The challenge now is to be able to make a dent in the mainstream policy making. That is a major roadblock. Unfortunately, our politicians and bureaucrats do not know enough about their own people. They do not know what is happening at the ground level. They do not know what changes are taking place. They are losing contact with their own people.

The elite class has failed. The middle class has failed. They have become selfish and self-centred. They want more and more from every event, circumstance and policy. The middle class had played a very important role in the freedom movement – but no longer. I see the role of middle class as one of changing a feudal society into a democratic one – but they have not performed that role. The younger generation among the middle class have wrong notions about the poor and poverty, about villages and rural areas, which remain the core sector of the Indian economy.

Value I treasure

Simplicity. It covers everything – including the environment. Simple needs and approach eliminate the need to lie and the craving for more. I relish simplicity as an all-comprehensive value.