Ela Bhatt

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Ela Bhatt, also known fondly as the “gentle revolutionist,” has dedicated her life to improving the lives of India’s poorest and most oppressed women workers in addition to becoming India’s most well-known and prominent women’s rights activists. She pioneered and founded the grassroots women trade union association called the Self Employed Women’s Association in 1972.

Achievements

Why Ela Bhatt is Extraordinary

Ela Bhatt’s Self Employed Women’s Association

Her leading role in providing banking and microfinance loans to those whom otherwise would be left fighting the vicious cycle of poverty, has provided a service of social welfare inspired through direct action, collective strength, and empowerment. They broke the back of high interest money lenders by educating and raising living standards of millions of self-employed and financially oppressed women across the globe from a grass roots level up.

For the last thirty years, her organization has led to the empowerment of women in the vein of Gandhian economics, drawing on the strength of collective support to forge progress and change for the social good of everyone.

Receiving CARE Award and Becoming Part of the Elders

She has been recognized globally for her efforts to improve the lives of impoverished women and the poor in India with accolades, awards, honorary doctorates, whilst holding prominent positions on social action boards both in India and abroad. Ela was also the recipient of the first ever Global Fairness Initiative Award, and the globally recognized CARE Award.

In 2007, she became a founding member of the Elders, a group of twelve international social activists including past presidents, prime ministers and Nobel peace prize winners who work together for peace and human rights across the globe.

Ela Bhatt, the “gentle revolutionist,” is extraordinary, soft spoken, determined, and a dedicated visionary. She works for the improvement of all. She has silenced her skeptics, sent change makers back to school, and given evidence that regardless of how poor, illiterate, oppressed one may be, through self-empowerment and trust, lives can be changed for the betterment of all.

Top Reasons why Ela Bhatt is Extraordinary

She is called the Gentle Revolutionist because of the way she brings women issues in the forefront without resorting to violence.
She pioneered and founded the grassroots women trade union organization called the Self Employed Women’s Association in 1972.
Her leading role in providing banking and microfinance loans to those whom otherwise would be left fighting the vicious cycle of poverty, has provided a service of social welfare inspired through direct action, collective strength, and empowerment.
Ela was the recipient of the first ever Global Fairness Initiative Award, and the globally recognized CARE Award.
She was a founding member of the Elders, a group of twelve international social activists including past presidents, prime ministers and Nobel Peace Prize winners who work together for peace and human rights across the globe.
She founded the Cooperative Bank of SEWA in 1973.
Hillary Clinton considers Ela as one of her personal heroes.
She is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, The Alternative Nobel Prize, for “Changing the Human Environment."
She has several honorary degrees.
The Economic Times Award, Business Woman of the Year, and Dr. V. Krishnamurthy Award for Excellence are just some of the accolades she received in India and abroad.

Biography

Biography of Ela Bhatt

Date of Birth: Thursday, 07 September 1933 | Born in: / Nationality: India

The Gentle Revolutionist’s Quick Profile

In 1973, she also founded the Cooperative Bank of SEWA (sewa means “to serve”). It was built on the principle of Gandhi’s teaching of self-reliance and collective action with the objective to assist women to become financially independent along with improving their own family’s living standard and the communities they live in.

She has been recognized globally for her efforts to improve the lives of impoverished women and the poor in India with accolades, awards, and honorary doctorates, whilst holding prominent positions on social action boards both in India and abroad. Ela was also the recipient of the first ever Global Fairness Initiative Award, and the globally recognized CARE Award.

In 2007 she became a founding member of the Elders, a group of twelve international social activists including past presidents, prime ministers, and Nobel peace prize winners who work together for peace and human rights across the globe.

Ela Bhatt’s association has now surpassed 1,000,000 members through implementing the concept of microfinance to women who otherwise may not be able to escape the vicious circle of poverty. By providing small loans to women, regardless of their educational attainment and ability to pay, she works with them to develop business in an effort to help them solve their financial problems themselves.

Her program today is both benchmark of best programs providing micro finance to women and has been copied many times over by other social cause organizations throughout the world.

In November 2010, Ela Bhatt’s association, SEWA, was visited by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who commented about Ela’s efforts upon presenting her with the First Global Awareness Award:

"Inequality may always be with us. But even in places where it is most stark, people still should be able to develop their ambitions and direct them toward building better lives. And Ela and SEWA have proven that.

...[W]hat Ela has done is to help the poor find freedom, and with freedom they have also found opportunity. And she has helped not only women in India but women in South Africa, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and inspired so many others to find their own way forward to overcome long legacies of inequality and unfairness. She has helped us imagine and then work toward a fairer world."

A Peek at Ela Bhatt’s Biography

Ela was born in Ahmedabad India on September 7, 1933; she was the middle child of three daughters. Her father was a lawyer and her mother was active in the women’s right movements in India.

Ella went to school from 1940 to 1948 at the Sarwajanik Girls High School in Surat before continuing her education at M.T.B. College. She graduated in 1952 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. She continued her studies at the Sir L.A. Shah Law College, and matriculated in 1954 with a law degree and a Gold medal of highest achiever in Hindu law.

Ela taught English briefly. However, teaching was not a career she found ultimately satisfying. So in 1955, she became a junior lawyer for the Textile Labor Association (TLA) where she would prepare case work for the senior lawyers.

In 1956, Ela married Ramesh Bhatt and left the workforce. In 1961 she returned to the work force, and worked in the Labor Ministry of Gujarat as an Employment Officer; and in 1968, the TLA approached her to lead its Women's Wing. The role gave Ela the opportunity to study abroad and travel to Israel where she studied for three months, earning herself an international diploma of Labour in 1971.

Ela, in her role, was aware that while the male textile workers were covered by workers’ rights, their pay was so low that thousands of textile workers’ wives and daughters have to work to assist supporting the families financially. They, however, had no protection or support. Furthermore, the organizations the women worked in were unorganized, and the self-employed women had no bargaining power or rights.

Ela undertook a survey that identified 97 percent of self employed women lived in slums, 93 percent were illiterate, and their average number of children was four.

Founding SEWA

With the backing of the TLA, Ela set out to organize these self-employed women into a union with the TLA Women’s Wing, and in 1972 the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) was officially founded, under the Indian Trade Union Act of 1926.

As self-employed women, they had to first buy stock before reselling it. The problem for these self-employed women is that they had to borrow money from money lenders that charged very high interest rates. So in an effort to alleviate this issue, SEWA created its first lending arm with the surprising assistance of some of the country’s banking institutions; however, the plan, while initially successful, failed as loans were provide to women who were not financially literate. This led the SEWA Bank in 1973 to form its own bank, and in 1974, was officially recognized as the Shri Mahila SEWA Sahakari Bank Limited (the Mahila SEWA Cooperative Bank, Ltd.).

The bank required a minimum investment of 10 rupees (US$1.40) per member. By 1976, the bank has accumulated over $35,000 USD, qualifying the members for low interest loans of around 250 and 1,000 rupees.

Due to the illiteracy of the self-employed customers, the SEWA bank introduced a simple identification procedure requiring each member to have a photograph identification which matched one held on file. In the beginning, the bank made its loans through the established nationalized banks; today the bank makes its own loans, issuing micro loans to the self-employed women.

It was established that the purpose of the bank is to be more than only a place where women could attain low interest loans, it would also teach their members how to become better business women, make their money more dynamic and invest back into their businesses, encourage them to save more and develop a sense of financial independence. To do this, the women were discouraged from bringing their husbands along when either depositing or applying for loans.

Ela Bhatt, with her compassionate spirit and her guidance behind SEWA, has shown that it is possible to help the most vulnerable and weak often overlooked by combining and focusing their efforts and use their collective strength to overcome financial hardships and economic oppression. She became a nurturer of self-empowerment to women.

Her vision and confidence in the ability of self-employed women has witnessed both the structure of SEWA and its members, starting from the grassroots movement to cause change for greater good, not only for women, but for the betterment of society as a whole.

One observer recounting her work saying:

"She is an extraordinarily calm, strong person whose gentleness and patience with the women is certainly one of the most important reasons for the success of SEWA."

Controversial News Made by Narendra Modi

When Gujarat was hit by a 7.6 to 7.7 magnitude earthquake in January of 2001, SEWA was one of the organizations which ran to the victims' rescue. However, Narendra Modi, Gujarat's Chief Minister, accused Ela's SEWA of misappropriating financial help supposed to be used for the rehabilitation fo the area. Ela did not allow Narendra to discredit SEWA and denied the allegations. In order to put a stop to the controversial news altogether, she opted to pull SEWA out of the project.

Quotes from Ela Bhatt

Learn more and be inspired by Ela Bhatt's endeavors with this interview.

Her Achievements

1979: Awarded the Ramon Magsaysay “Community Leadership,” Manila
1982: Awarded for National Integration, the Susan B. Anthony Award, India, 1982.
1984: Awarded for “Changing the Human Environment” Right Livelihood Award (The Alternative Nobel Prize) Stockholm.
1985: Received A Padmashree from the Government of India.
1990: Awarded the Women in Creation Award by Alliance de Femme. Paris
1994: CARE Humanitarian Award, Washington, USA.
1995: Received Vishwa Gurjari, India
1999: Awarded the National Integration Yashwantrao Chavan Award
2000: Received Humanitarian Award, Inter Action, Washington USA, Asia Society Award: Builder of Bridges between Asians and Americans, FICCI’s Millennium Life-time Achievement Award, Delhi
2002: Awarded for Rural Upliftment, the Diwaliben Mehta Award
2003: Received the Economic Times Award, Business Woman of the Year, Dr. V. Krishnamurthy Award for Excellence, Centre for Organisation Development, Hyderabad
2004: Received for Excellence in Public Administration, the Lal Bahadur Shastri Award, Academics and Management, Lakshmipat Singhania - IIML National Leadership Awards
2005: Received the Global Women's Leadership Award at the Global Summit of Women in Mexico
2006: Awarded by Foundation Forum and Women Together Award, Madrid Spain and the Global fairness Initiative Award, Légion d’honneur by France,
2011: Receives Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace Award, Disarmament and Development 2011 for lifetime achievements in empowering women. And the Ford Foundation Visionaries Award
2012: Receives the Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Medal

Honorary Degrees:

1991: Doctor of Letters, SNDT University, Bombay, India
1993: Doctor of Humanities, Haverford College, USA
1994: Doctor of Humanities, Temple University, USA
1999: Doctor of Literature, MS University of Baroda, India, Doctor of Humanities, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada
2001: Doctor of Humane Letters, Harvard University, USA
2002: Honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences, Yale University, USA
2003: Honorary Heroes of Health, Berkeley School of Health, University of California, USA
2003: Honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa

Organisations Supported: