Lifelong activism and women’s entrepreneurship: how a social movement organization improves conditions for self-employed women in India

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a local trade union improves living conditions for women entrepreneurs in India and how its activities have evolved over time.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a longitudinal case study of the self-employed women’s association (SEWA) in India. Founded in 1972, this organization fosters and supports women’s entrepreneurship. The approach of this study combines qualitative face-to-face interviews and secondary data analysis.

Findings

The findings highlight the fact that SEWA, which combines the features of a trade union and a social movement, improves women’s conditions in several different ways. The study shows that the organization’s main role has evolved from creating a community to expanding it and finally to becoming an agent of societal change.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the literature by analyzing how locally grown organizations fight social exclusion and improve the conditions of deprived groups in emerging economies.

Citation

Colovic, A. and Mehrotra, S. (2020), "Lifelong activism and women’s entrepreneurship: how a social movement organization improves conditions for self-employed women in India", European Business Review, Vol. 32 No. 5, pp. 937-958. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-09-2019-0215