Contributor : Profile

Renana Jhabvala has been associated with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) – a trade union of 1.9 million members of women in the informal economy – for over 40 years. She is also known for her writings on issues of women in the informal economy. She was awarded a Padma Shri Award in the year 1990.

She joined SEWA after completing her education from Delhi University, Harvard University (in mathematics) and Yale University (in economics). She worked as elected Secretary of SEWA in Gujarat under Smt. Ela Bhatt for many years during which she initiated SEWA across India. She was Chair of SEWA Bank from 2003 to 2009, and is presently on the board of SEWA Bank. She was instrumental in forming SEWA Bharat, a National Federation of SEWAs now in 11 states of India, and is presently the President of SEWA Bharat.

She has been active at the international level and has represented SEWA at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other international forums. At the South Asia level she was instrumental in forming HomeNet South Asia bringing together organisations in South Asian countries and is presently the Chair of HomeNet South Asia. She is one of the founders and present Chair of WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing) based at Harvard University. She became a member of Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment in 2016.

She has been active in many government committees and task forces which have formulated policies ranging from National Policy for Street vendors to the Law for Social Security of Unorganised Workers. She has also been nominated as Chancellor Gandhigram Rural Institute (deemed university).

She has written many articles and books on SEWA and informal economy.