At the very beginning ...
I don't exactly recall how or where I first heard about SEWA back in the early 80th. It could have been an article or a note in EMMA or TAZ, I think.
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The Self-Employed Women's Association SEWA, founded in 1972, is a kickass movement of independent women in rural and urban India and has now become the country's largest union.
In 1971, a small group of female labor migrants working as cart pullers and head-loaders at Ahmedabad's textile market in Gujarat sought help from the Textile Labour Association (TLA) to secure fair wages. These women lived on the streets and were often too poor even to afford a basic shelter. They all worked in the thriving textile market, transporting fabric bundles between wholesalers and retailers who exploited them by paying meager wages.
Their demands were clear - full employment and autonomy. Full employment meant job security, income security, food security, and social security, including healthcare, childcare, insurance, pensions, and housing at the household level. Autonomy meant the ability to work individually and collectively, achieve economic freedom, and retain decision-making power over their lives and livelihoods.
Since 1972, the number of SEWA members has steadily grown, with self-employed women from various professions joining the movement - from vegetable vendors to incense stick rollers, and from scrap dealers to waste processors. The "Year of the Woman" in 1975 (UN World Women's Conferences: '75 Mexico City, '80 Copenhagen, '85 Nairobi) also gave SEWA a boost, firmly anchoring it in the international women's movement.
The relationship between SEWA and TLA was tense until 1981. The interests of TLA, representing organized sector workers, didn't easily align with those of SEWA, representing unorganized sector workers. However, the women of SEWA realized they were now free to chart a new course, forge new relationships, and find innovative solutions that catered to their needs. With all the creativity and courage at their disposal, the women built SEWA into a democratic, inclusive, responsive, dynamic, and self-sustaining organization.
Today, SEWA organizes over 2.5 million women, making it the largest central union for female workers in India.
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That was totally my thing! I wanted to change the world with my photographs or at least contribute to it! And SEWA provided the perfect opportunity for that! I packed my trusty little black Leica M4 (the same vintage as me) and the solid Leica SL2, along with a 50-pack of TRI-X film, and flew off to India. Registering with SEWA in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, about 500 km north of Mumbai, was not easy. The internet didn't exist yet, and phone communication was tricky. The postal service took too long. Nevertheless, I met the charismatic Elaben Bhatt at SEWA, who proved to be immensely helpful in my work and the realization of my ideas. After an extended stopover in Goa, I returned to Germany with my exposed films and soon found myself flipping through my first photo reportage in a magazine.