Interview with Ela Bhatt, interviewed by Geoffrey Jones, Mumbai, India

Ela Bhatt, Founder and Former Secretary General of Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), describes how growing up in the political and social atmosphere of India's independence and the Gandhian movement led her to found an organization devoted to the advancement of poor, undocumented women in India in the 1970s. She narrates her education in law and early career, discussing how her experiences in the Textile Laborer's Association, and her involvement with the Textile Laborer's Union impressed upon her the idea that organization and coordination were essential to bring change to the plight of India's poorest laborers. The very first step in Bhatt's journey was to overcome ingrained notions about the definition of work in society, which centered on an employer-employee relationship. Excluded from this definition were the thousands of women who worked either in the home--sewing, weaving, or tending to livestock--or who worked in India's open markets selling vegetables, food grains, and spices. These unprotected laborers accounted for roughly 90% of India's entire workforce, and women, Bhatt points out, made up a large percent of this group. Because of their unprotected, unregister