SEWA founder & women’s activist Elaben Bhatt passes away

November 4, 2022

SEWA founder & women’s activist Elaben Bhatt passes away: At the age of 89, Elaben Bhatt, a well-known activist for women’s empowerment and the founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), passed away. Elaben was the Chairperson of Sabarmati Ashram and recently resigned as the Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi-founded Gujarat Vidhyapith. In 2007, Nelson Mandela became part of a group of world leaders called the Elders, founded to promote human rights and peace throughout the world.

November 2022 Current Affairs Quiz

The recipient of national and international awards, including the Padma Bhushan, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize and many other accolades, she was globally recognised as a woman leader who founded many institutions and carried out pioneering work in organising the informal sector for self-employment and empowerment of women not only in India but across South Asia.

Elaben Bhatt: Life and career

Elaben Bhatt was a Member of the Rajya Sabha and of the Planning Commission of India in the 1980s. She served in many international organisations, including Women’s World Banking, a global network of microfinance organisations, of which she was co-founder and had served as Chairperson. She also served as an advisor to the World Bank, and addressed the United Nations General Assembly.
Sewa, founded by her in 1972, is one of the largest cooperatives working for women, with a base of over 2 million members from about 18 states in the country and neighboring countries.
In 2012, she was praised by then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “I have a lot of heroes and heroines around the world and one of them is Ela Bhatt, who started an organisation called the SEWA in India many years ago”.
Elaben was born on September 7, 1933 in Ahmedabad to a family involved in social work. His father Sumant Bhat, a lawyer, served as a District Judge and was later appointed Charity Commissioner for Bombay and then Gujarat, where he oversaw the activities of all charities, trusts and NGOs.
Her mother, Vanalila Vyas, served as secretary of the Gujarat branch of the All India Women’s Conference for some time. Founded in 1927 by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, the organization worked for educational and social reforms.