Made in India| 1hr : 31mins
Director: Patricia,Plattner | Producer: Light Night Production
Focus Years: 1999 | Country: Switzerland
Subject Tags: community, culture, economies, enlightened teachers, equality, europe, feminine, her workers, ideas, identity, india, leadership, livelihood, poverty, switzerland, the mother
Quality Tags: Optimistic, Slow, Activating, Harmonizing
Synopsis:
The Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) is a unique sort of trade union, first created in the state of Gujarat. In 1998, it has 217,000 members throughout the sub-continent. SEWA has set out to organize India's countless extremely poor women, whether they work at home, in the street or in the fields, doing a variety of jobs but having no permanent employer so that they may be considered self employed. Issued from many different religious and caste backgrounds, the SEWA women have created their own cooperative bank. SEWA is also concerned about such issues as health and training. Inventive and courageous, these women have stepped out from the shadow. The film tells the story of SEWA with the voices of six of its members.