IT WAS in the December of 2009, at a fashion show at the Kanoria Centre for Arts in Ahmedabad to showcase the ethnic embroidery work of Gujarat, where, amidst the young men and women walking the ramp, came the showstopper — Ela Bhatt, then 76, wearing a white sari with a tassled pallu.
Ela Bhatt, or Elaben as she was popularly known, was a product of the early days of Independence. Inspired by Gandhiji and the atmosphere of hope and excitement for the future, she studied law in Ahmedabad and saw her future as a participant in building a new India. “For me, nation-building meant reaching the workers. They are the foundation of the nation and yet remain poor and neglected”, she said.
Elaben was deeply inspired by Ramesh Bhatt, a student leader, who she later married and who became her emotional and intellectual companion. After graduation, Elaben joined the Textile Labour Association (or Majoor Mahajan) and Rameshbhai joined the Gujarat Vidyapeeth in Ahmedabad. The TLA, a trade union of mill workers founded by Anasuya Sarabhai and whose constitution was written by Gandhiji, was Elaben’s learning ground. There, she learnt the elements of organising, of the importance of a trade union — poor people and workers coming together to give each other strength to create a voice and to negotiate for rights. It was here that she first met women from the unorganised or informal economy, women who pulled carts or sold vegetables or stitched garments, and saw how poor and yet hardworking they were.
The Self-Employed Women’s Association or SEWA was her creation. Starting as a small organisation in 1972, it has been built into a nationwide, indeed a worldwide, movement of women working at the base of the pyramid. She often recalled how she organised a meeting with women vendors and cart pullers who said, “We want a Majoor Mahajan of our own”. She was amazed when they all opened their little bundles and pulled out 25 paise each as a contribution to their new union. However, as she worked closely with these women, Elaben realised that just fighting for rights was not enough. There were no laws protecting them and the mindset of employers, and of the authorities such as the municipality and police, was exploitative.
Elaben had visited Israel a few years previously and seen the working of cooperatives with trade unions. As she thought about how she could truly help these women, she began to work with the idea of creating cooperatives. But where to start? Unlike today, there was no financial inclusion for them. They had nowhere to put their savings and collected notes were often eaten up by rats or stolen by family members. They had to get their loans from moneylenders at unimaginable interest rates. And yet when she tried to link them with the newly nationalised banks, they faced mostly rejections.
Elaben often recalled a large meeting of the women on the banks of the Sabarmati river where they told her “We are poor but so many in number that we can collect shares and form our own bank”. And Elaben had the courage, indeed the audacity, to help the women form a cooperative bank.
She has been called a gentle revolutionary. Both her ideas and her actions were revolutionary. She gave the world the path with which to reach out and change the lives of the poorest and she called it “Struggle and Development”. This path has been replicated not only in Gujarat where she began but all over India and even in many parts of the world.
As a revolutionary she realised that actions alone were not enough, the main problem, as she said, was “mindsets”. She needed to change the ideas and mindsets reflected in laws, policies and attitudes. She became an articulate spokesperson for these invisible women.
Recognition and honours began to arrive. In 1977, she won the Magsaysay award, later the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan. She was appointed as a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha; at the international level, she was honoured with degrees from Harvard and Yale. She was appointed as a member of “The Elders”, an international group started by Nelson Mandela. And through all this, her only concern was to promote the cause of her women. As a Rajya Sabha member, she introduced bills for street vendors and home-based workers. Through her efforts, the Street Vendors Bill did become law. When she received the Padma Shri, the only thing she asked for was a Commission on women in the unorganised sector. She produced the first All-India study called Shram Shakti in 1988, a classic even today.
Elaben recognised the importance of organising workers. What she started in Ahmedabad, she brought to the rest of the world, inspiring international federations of street vendors, home-based workers, domestic workers, and rag pickers. She made her presence felt in international forums such as the International Labour Organisation where she succeeded in getting a Convention for home-based workers. Recognising the need to change mindsets world wide she founded WIEGO an international network of researchers, policymakers and activists.
Perhaps Elaben’s greatest achievement is that she changed millions of lives. Empowering poor working women, but also many educated and professional women who joined her movement and took it forward. Last year, SEWA celebrated 50 years of achievement, but Elaben, at the age of 88 was still looking ahead: “Let us think of what change we want to bring in the next fifty years, who are the people we need and let us inspire many women as well as men to join us in that change.”
IT WAS in the December of 2009, at a fashion show at the Kanoria Centre for Arts in Ahmedabad to showcase the ethnic embroidery work of Gujarat, where, amidst the young men and women walking the ramp, came the showstopper — Ela Bhatt, then 76, wearing a white sari with a tassled pallu.
The sari was designed by Hansiba, the clothing line named after SEWA’s oldest artisan,
for the show, where over 3,000 women artisans from Kutch and Patan had designed garments in collaboration with French and British designers.
That was Elaben, as she was fondly known, who broke several glass ceilings and inspired many across the globe to break them. Bhatt, the founder of SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association), died in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, after a brief illness. The funeral will be held on Thursday morning.
The jhoola at the entrance of her home, where she sat every morning, was moved to one side to make way for the stream of mourners on Wednesday. Women heading various arms of SEWA, which now has over two million members, paid tribute to their founder and mentor.
The room where she lived, and worked, has frames of the signatures of Mahatma Gandhi in 11 languages, a portrait of Anasuya Sarabhai, who, along with Gandhi, founded the Textile Labour Association (TLA), Rabindranath Tagore, several photographs of her late husband Ramesh, and her grandchildren.
This is the house that Bhatt and her husband, a professor of economics at Ahmedabad’s H K Arts College, designed and built in 1959, and called ‘Toy House’.
Born in Ahmedabad on September 7, 1933, Bhatt, a lawyer, first joined the legal department of TLA, and later founded SEWA in 1972, born out of the women’s wing of TLA.
It was the fight for decent wages for migrant women, who worked in Ahmedabad’s cloth market as handcart pullers and head loaders, that led Bhatt and then TLA president Arvind Buch to set up SEWA. As mills closed, leading to unemployment, SEWA, which had founded a bank in 1974 to give small loans to women, charted newer territory.
Its official website says that SEWA Bank established a microfinance movement and, in 1996, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) recognised home-based workers as workers. The 2014 Street Vendors Act passed by the Centre is also seen as the outcome of the “long and tenacious struggle” by SEWA, it says.
Starting from the women’s wing in TLA, where the wives and daughters of textile mill workers were taught spinning, sewing, knitting, embroidery and other welfare activities, SEWA empowered the women to become self-reliant and take on jobs that were considered to be the domain of men.
Apart from its units in 18 Indian states, self-employed women in South Asia, South Africa and Latin America have also set up SEWA units. Former US first lady Hillary Clinton and UK first lady Cherie Blair were among those who visited SEWA. Besides skilling rural women, SEWA also runs a café Kamala, named after Kamala Chaudhary, IIM-A’s first faculty member.
“A sea change comes over the women once they see money building in their bank accounts. They feel more self-confident knowing they have a cushion to fall back on. When financial tensions ease, the women say that their husband’s attitude softens — the men are more willing to consider women as partners instead of an economic burden,” wrote Bhatt in her book, ‘We are Poor but So Many’.
“What she has done for the most disempowered of women is unparalleled. India can never forget her and her organisational abilities for the upliftment of the unseen and the unheard,” said danseuse and activist Mallika Sarabhai, who was among the visitors at Bhatt’s house.
Bhatt, chairperson of the Sabarmati Ashram Memorial and Preservation Trust, also co-founded the Women’s World Banking, a global network of microfinance organisations, of which she was chairperson from 1984 to 1988.
She was also nominated to Rajya Sabha, was a member of the Planning Commission, and was advisor to organisations like the World Bank. In 2007, she joined the Elders, a group of world leaders founded by Nelson Mandela to promote human rights and peace.
Bhatt also served as Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, a university founded by Mahatma Gandhi in Ahmedabad, till October this year, before resigning on health grounds.
She was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, Ramon Magsaysay Award and Indira Gandhi International Prize for Peace among many other awards.
“Ramesh opened my eyes to the world. It was 1949, and I was a shy and studious university student… he was a fearless, handsome student leader and active member of the Youth Congress,” she wrote in the book, ‘Women, Work and Peace’. She got to know him when he asked her to accompany him to slums to collect primary data for the census in 1951. “I joined regardless (of my parents’ possible disapproval) and my life transformed,” she wrote.
When she was 60, she began taking music classes and would do riyaz for hours, said her family members. Bhatt is survived by her son Mihir, daughter Amimayi Potter, and four grandchildren.
Her daughter-in-law, Reema Nanavaty, recalled the time Bhatt was in hospital recently, recuperating from a difficult surgery. “As soon as she felt better, she called me to discuss her vision,” said Nanavaty, who is SEWA director. Bhatt was looking forward to resuming her work on issues like clean air and groundwater levels, her family said.
Rupaben, Bhatt’s younger sister, said: “What a life… She would be up till 3 am, reading, writing… She would say, ‘that’s when I get inspiration’… Our sibling rivalry never ended, I never forgave her for being brighter.”
The death of Illaben Bhatt has deeply saddened Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others. She was 89. Bhatt was a social activist, Gandhian, and the founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). Bhatt received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1977, the Right Livelihood Award in 1982, and the Padma Bhushan in 1986 for her work in empowering impoverished women in Gujarat. In 2010, she was also awarded the Niwano Peace Prize. She has been the chairperson of Sabarmati Ashram since 2016. Her mother and father were both devoted to the community. Her father was a successful lawyer, and her mother was involved in feminist movements and remained secretary of the All India Women’s Conference.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Saddened by the death of Ilaben Bhatt. She will long be remembered for her efforts to promote women’s empowerment, social service and education among the youth. Condolences to his family and fans. ? Shanti…?” Along with him Gujarat BJP chief CR Patil also expressed grief over her death and tweeted “The news of the death of Padma Bhushan Elaben Bhatt was Painful. Elaben Bhatt remained a lifelong activist for the upliftment of women, and her services to make women self-reliant will always be an inspiration. I pray that God may grant peace to his departed soul.”
Awards and Accords Ela Bhatt received in her life
She pursued a Bachelor of Arts in English. After which she went on to do law. In the year 1954 Ela Bhatt received her degree in law and a Gold Medal for her work on Hindu Law.. Later on, she received:
Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1977
Right Livelihood Award in 1984
Padma Bhushan in 1986
Selected for the Niwano Peace Prize in 2010.
Since 2016 she was the Chairperson of Sabarmati Ashram. She also served as the chancellor of Vidhyapeth for 7 years but due to deteriorating health, she had to step down. Mahatma Gandhi founded the Vidyapeth, which is over 100 years old, and he served as its first chancellor.
Congress minister Rahul Gandhi hails Ela Bhatt
Rahul Gandhi also tweeted for Ela, “Saddened by the demise of noted activist and Padma Bhushan awardee, Smt. Ela Bhatt. She devoted her life to Gandhian ideals and transformed the lives of millions of women, by empowering them. My heartfelt condolences to her near & dear ones, and her many admirers.”
Congress Minister Jairam Ramesh and chief Mallikarjun Kharge also tweeted on Wednesday (November 2) hailing the efforts made by Ela. Kharge said that Ela’s exceptional legacy will always inspire people. Jairam Ramesh tweeted “Ela Bhatt was a truly iconic figure and a pioneer in the movement for empowerment in the unorganised sector, first in Gujarat and later across the country. SEWA is her greatest legacy and has made a huge difference in the lives of millions of women and their families. And Ela Bhatt was undeterred by the attacks on her in ‘New India’ and maintained her dignity and grace throughout.”
Ela started her career as an English teacher for a short period. She was active in many movements concerning international labour and women’s issues. Gandhian philosophy and thinking influenced Bhatt greatly. Her grandfather had joined Mahatma Gandhi on the Salt Satyagraha in 1930 to protest the British ban on Indians making salt.
She was also a Rajya Sabha member and a World Bank adviser. She became a member of the Elders, a group of world leaders founded by Nelson Mandela to promote human rights and peace, in 2007. Ela was born in Ahmedabad. In 1956, Ela Bhatt married Ramesh Bhatt. Amimayi (1958) and Mihir (1959) are their two children who live in Ahmedabad.
Elaben, who redefined women’s empowerment
Many an epithet has been used to celebrate her — the gentle revolutionary, the Mahatma of “shramjeevi” (working) women, and more. For us, her Sewa (Self-Employed Women’s Association) sisters, and thousands across India and the globe, Ela Bhatt was simply “ben” (sister).
Born in a family of freedom fighters, the spirit of sacrifice and service was imbued early in her. While in college in Surat, she met the student leader and her future husband, Ramesh Bhatt, and together they forged a unique partnership — of service to the poorest and most vulnerable, in the spirit and tradition of Gandhiji.
Often described as a Gandhian, Elaben defied labels and categories. She was an extraordinary leader with a unique leadership style — “Jay beeja nay aagad karay te aagewan” (those who put others forward are leaders). And so she did. She inspired innumerable women, and many others across sectors, unions, civil society, government, business, and academics, in India and elsewhere. Wherever there are informal women workers, she was their guiding light — motivating, inspiring, encouraging, giving space for women of all castes, creeds, religions and geographies to bloom and find their own potential. She did not care for the word “mentor” much, but was that and more to so many of us. She firmly believed in the values of Gandhiji and favoured both decentralised, democratic organisations and also “anubandh” or the interconnectedness of human beings with the planet. She lived simply and without clutter, either of possessions or other baggage.
She was a firm believer in organising — the act of uniting women, building the sisterhood and solidarity. It is the basic building block, she often told us, and with her infectious smile, would add, “No short cuts, we must do the hard work of organising and building up membership-based organisations such as unions and cooperatives, and then our Sewa movement — a ‘sangam’ (confluence) of labour, cooperative and women’s movement and something more than all these put together, the informal women workers’ movement.”
A visionary, she worked round-the-clock to realise her dream of a movement of self-employed women. There are so many firsts to her name, yet she wore her achievements and the many awards and recognition she obtained, lightly. She truly believed these were collective, small victories in the long road to economic empowerment and self-reliance or “swaraj”, as she explained to us. One of her seminal contributions was to the microfinance movement and setting up Sewa Bank, the first of its kind anywhere. An early friendship with Michaela Walsh at the United Nations women’s conference in Mexico resulted in financial services for women, such as the Women’s World Banking, Friends of Women’s World Banking, VimoSewa, Sewa’s insurance cooperative, and more.
An institution builder par excellence,she started organising workers as a young lawyer at the Majoor Mahajan Sabha, the textile workers union founded by Anasuyaben Sarabhai and Gandhiji. And, it was there that the world of informal women workers unfolded before her. She often said there was no looking back from that point on and she understood that this was to be her life’s work, organising a movement of self-employed women for their rightful place in the Indian economy and society.
Under the same neem tree in then Victoria Garden, now Lokmanya Tilak Bagh, she planted a banyan tree a few months ago to mark Sewa’s 50 years. The banyan tree was how she liked to see our movement. From a handful of women such as old cloth vendor Chandaben, garment worker Karimaben and others, she led Sewa to become the movement of 2.1 million workers in 18 states that it is today. Sewa grew under her able leadership to be the largest movement of informal women workers in the world.
There is Sewa, the national union, and thousands of other small, medium and large organisations such as cooperatives and collectives in India and across several continents. One of those that she founded is Wiego (Women in Informal Employment Globalising and Organising), a network of grassroots organisers, researchers and policymakers. She often said the biggest injustice of all was that despite all the work women do, there is no recognition or visibility for them.
She helped to set up Streetnet — an international organisation of street vendors who were always special to her. She began her work with street vendors more than 50 years ago, and the struggle for their rights was a cause dear to her heart. She spoke of the injustices they faced in Parliament when she was in the Rajya Sabha, and often chuckled at the memory of rather bewildered members.
Elaben had a knack of explaining and writing in simple, evocative language, preferably in her mother tongue, Gujarati. Charismatic and modest, she would say her life’s work could be summarised as women, work and peace. She brought her years of wisdom and experience into The Elders, where again she stood apart due to her solid organising experience and her keen strategic sense. She was embraced by one and all, but most of all she was loved by the hundreds of thousands of Sewa “bens”, or sisters, everywhere. She was mobbed at every Sewa event and her list of admirers was long and varied, from Laxmiben Tetabhai with whom she fought a struggle for street vendors’ rights in Manek Chowk to Nelson Mandela, with whom she enjoyed a warm friendship.
She was also an expert homemaker, cook and impeccable hostess and had a beautiful singing voice which was an instant draw. She was a prodigious writer who penned in Anasuya, our Gujarati newsletter, a play on street vendors, apart from numerous papers and several books in English and Gujarati. One of these was her book We are Poor But We are Many ,which described as her life’s work. Another illuminating report she steered and edited was Shramshakti, the report of the National Commission on Self-Employed Women and Women in the Informal sector. Crisscrossing the length and breadth of India, she listened to women, recorded their grind of work, their songs and their hopes for a future of equality and justice.
Elaben leaves us a rich legacy of the many organisations she founded and ably led, of reminding us of the unfinished business of our freedom movement and to take the fight against poverty and for swaraj forward, ensure work and income security, food and social security for all, especially the hard-working women of our country. As we celebrate her life, we Sewa sisters resolve to take forward her unfinished work and organise in every corner of our land, build women’s leadership and their own democratic, inclusive, decentralised, membership-based organisations, to build a firm future for them and their families, for India and for our shared global family.
Elaben, who redefined women’s empowerment
Many an epithet has been used to celebrate her — the gentle revolutionary, the Mahatma of “shramjeevi” (working) women, and more. For us, her Sewa (Self-Employed Women’s Association) sisters, and thousands across India and the globe, Ela Bhatt was simply “ben” (sister).
Born in a family of freedom fighters, the spirit of sacrifice and service was imbued early in her. While in college in Surat, she met the student leader and her future husband, Ramesh Bhatt, and together they forged a unique partnership — of service to the poorest and most vulnerable, in the spirit and tradition of Gandhiji.
Often described as a Gandhian, Elaben defied labels and categories. She was an extraordinary leader with a unique leadership style — “Jay beeja nay aagad karay te aagewan” (those who put others forward are leaders). And so she did. She inspired innumerable women, and many others across sectors, unions, civil society, government, business, and academics, in India and elsewhere. Wherever there are informal women workers, she was their guiding light — motivating, inspiring, encouraging, giving space for women of all castes, creeds, religions and geographies to bloom and find their own potential. She did not care for the word “mentor” much, but was that and more to so many of us. She firmly believed in the values of Gandhiji and favoured both decentralised, democratic organisations and also “anubandh” or the interconnectedness of human beings with the planet. She lived simply and without clutter, either of possessions or other baggage.
She was a firm believer in organising — the act of uniting women, building the sisterhood and solidarity. It is the basic building block, she often told us, and with her infectious smile, would add, “No short cuts, we must do the hard work of organising and building up membership-based organisations such as unions and cooperatives, and then our Sewa movement — a ‘sangam’ (confluence) of labour, cooperative and women’s movement and something more than all these put together, the informal women workers’ movement.”
A visionary, she worked round-the-clock to realise her dream of a movement of self-employed women. There are so many firsts to her name, yet she wore her achievements and the many awards and recognition she obtained, lightly. She truly believed these were collective, small victories in the long road to economic empowerment and self-reliance or “swaraj”, as she explained to us. One of her seminal contributions was to the microfinance movement and setting up Sewa Bank, the first of its kind anywhere. An early friendship with Michaela Walsh at the United Nations women’s conference in Mexico resulted in financial services for women, such as the Women’s World Banking, Friends of Women’s World Banking, VimoSewa, Sewa’s insurance cooperative, and more.
An institution builder par excellence,she started organising workers as a young lawyer at the Majoor Mahajan Sabha, the textile workers union founded by Anasuyaben Sarabhai and Gandhiji. And, it was there that the world of informal women workers unfolded before her. She often said there was no looking back from that point on and she understood that this was to be her life’s work, organising a movement of self-employed women for their rightful place in the Indian economy and society.
Under the same neem tree in then Victoria Garden, now Lokmanya Tilak Bagh, she planted a banyan tree a few months ago to mark Sewa’s 50 years. The banyan tree was how she liked to see our movement. From a handful of women such as old cloth vendor Chandaben, garment worker Karimaben and others, she led Sewa to become the movement of 2.1 million workers in 18 states that it is today. Sewa grew under her able leadership to be the largest movement of informal women workers in the world.
There is Sewa, the national union, and thousands of other small, medium and large organisations such as cooperatives and collectives in India and across several continents. One of those that she founded is Wiego (Women in Informal Employment Globalising and Organising), a network of grassroots organisers, researchers and policymakers. She often said the biggest injustice of all was that despite all the work women do, there is no recognition or visibility for them.
She helped to set up Streetnet — an international organisation of street vendors who were always special to her. She began her work with street vendors more than 50 years ago, and the struggle for their rights was a cause dear to her heart. She spoke of the injustices they faced in Parliament when she was in the Rajya Sabha, and often chuckled at the memory of rather bewildered members.
Elaben had a knack of explaining and writing in simple, evocative language, preferably in her mother tongue, Gujarati. Charismatic and modest, she would say her life’s work could be summarised as women, work and peace. She brought her years of wisdom and experience into The Elders, where again she stood apart due to her solid organising experience and her keen strategic sense. She was embraced by one and all, but most of all she was loved by the hundreds of thousands of Sewa “bens”, or sisters, everywhere. She was mobbed at every Sewa event and her list of admirers was long and varied, from Laxmiben Tetabhai with whom she fought a struggle for street vendors’ rights in Manek Chowk to Nelson Mandela, with whom she enjoyed a warm friendship.
She was also an expert homemaker, cook and impeccable hostess and had a beautiful singing voice which was an instant draw. She was a prodigious writer who penned in Anasuya, our Gujarati newsletter, a play on street vendors, apart from numerous papers and several books in English and Gujarati. One of these was her book We are Poor But We are Many ,which described as her life’s work. Another illuminating report she steered and edited was Shramshakti, the report of the National Commission on Self-Employed Women and Women in the Informal sector. Crisscrossing the length and breadth of India, she listened to women, recorded their grind of work, their songs and their hopes for a future of equality and justice.
Elaben leaves us a rich legacy of the many organisations she founded and ably led, of reminding us of the unfinished business of our freedom movement and to take the fight against poverty and for swaraj forward, ensure work and income security, food and social security for all, especially the hard-working women of our country. As we celebrate her life, we Sewa sisters resolve to take forward her unfinished work and organise in every corner of our land, build women’s leadership and their own democratic, inclusive, decentralised, membership-based organisations, to build a firm future for them and their families, for India and for our shared global family.
