 | The unorganized self-employed sector, called by SEWA "the
people's sector," is mainly comprised of women. SEWA began as a trade union
in 1972 to organize the unorganized, to seek justice for its members, and to meet
the needs of self-employed women. Its role, says Bhatt, "is to bridge gaps
in the lives of women, to help them with the next step, to turn their enormous
individual strengths into a collective strength." SEWA emphasizes four key
components necessary to bring women out of poverty: the need for capital at the
household level; the need for poor women to stand firm in the competitive market;
welfare services, including social security, basic health care, child care, and shelter; and collective,
organized strength.
The SEWA Bank, one of SEWA's many cooperatives, plays a critical
role in enabling SEWA to empower poor women. The goal of the bank is not how
large a loan it can make, but rather, it is how many small loans it can make and how
to reach out to the poorest of the poor. "The impact of fair price loans on
the lives of women," says Bhatt, "cannot be
overemphasized."
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