This case study was developed by Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) with support from the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development and the World Rural Forum.

SEWA, a trade union was established in 1972 in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It was an offshoot of the Association's Women's Wing of Textile Labour Association (TLA), one of the oldest unions in India, established by Anasuya Sarabhai and Mahatma Gandhi in 1920. Around that time, there were no unions protecting individuals who worked outside the formal sector, which are mostly women. The women workers were agitated by the 2 ruthless contractors, erratic jobs, and low wages. So, several poor, illiterate women, seasonal migrants from rural areas, approached the Textile Labour Association,