2. INTRODUCTION
Ela Ramesh bhat was born on 7 September 1933 in
Ahmadabad and she is an Indian cooperative organizer
and an activist.
A lawyer by training, Bhatt is a part of the international
labour, cooperative, women, and micro-
finance movements and has won several national and
international awards
Ela Bhatt has spent her life fighting for the rights and
welfare of India's 'invisible' workers.
Her grandparents worked with Mahatma Gandhi in the
non-violent struggle for Indian Independence from the
British.
Deeply influenced by Gandhi, Ela has followed his
ideals all her life.
3. HER IDEAS
She has pioneered the idea that people
themselves, no matter how poor or uneducated, are
able to solve their own problems if they organize
together to do so.
Ela started as a lawyer with the Textile Labour
Association (TLA) in Ahmedabad. Working in the
women's division, Ela soon found that women were
doing many of the labor-intensive tasks needed in
textile production, as well as in other fields of work.
However, as workers, they were invisible.
4. HER FOUNDING'S
Ela recognized that these women needed the help
that they could get only through organizing together
as a large group. To meet that need, she founded
SEWA(Self-Employed Women's Association in
India) in 1972 to organize for better pay and
working conditions. SEWA, which today has
250,000 members, helped workers at the lowest
level of society become empowered to take control
of their lives.
She also founded SEWA Bank, which is totally for
woman's and the first step is saving.
5. THE ELDERS
Ela was a part of a group named Elders.
This was a group of world leaders created to
contribute their wisdom, independent leadership
and integrity to tackle some of the world's toughest
problems.
Ela Bhatt is particularly involved in The Elders'
initiative on equality for women and girls, including
on the issue of child marriage.
6. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
She was one of the founders of Women's World
Banking in 1979.
She has served as Chair of the SEWA Cooperative
Bank.
She was granted an honorary Doctorate degree in
Humane Letters by Harvard University in June
2001.
Ela Bhatt was also awarded the civilian honour
of Padma Shri by the Government of India in
1985, and the Padma Bhushan in 1986.
7. She was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay
Award for Community Leadership in 1977 and
the Right Livelihood Award in 1984.
On November 2010, US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton honoured Bhatt with the Global Fairness
Initiative Award for helping move more than a
million poor women in India to a position of dignity
and independence.
Ela Bhatt was honoured with the
prestigious Radcliffe Medal on 27 May 2011
on Radcliffe day for her efforts in helping uplift
women, which has had a significant impact on
society.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
8. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
In November 2011, Ela Bhatt was selected for the
Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and
Development 2011 for her lifetime achievements in
empowering women through grassroots
entrepreneurship.
In June 2012, US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton identified Ela Bhatt as one of her 'heroine'.
She said, "I have a lot of heroes and heroines
around the world and one of them is Ela Bhatt, who
started an organisation called the Self-Employed
Women's Association (SEWA) in India many years
ago".
