The Self Employed Womens Association (SEWA) is a membership-based organization created in 1972 from a combination of the labour, women, and cooperative movements, to organize self-employed women in the informal economy and assist their collective struggle for social justice, equality and fair treatment.This first union for self-employed women in India has expanded to include 130 cooperatives, 181 rural producer groups, and numerous social security organizations within its structure. Given the large network of institutions created and managed by its members, SEWA is now considered not just an organization, but a œmovement active in 50 districts of 12 states in India, with a membership of over 1.75 million. SEWA Ahmedabad works in both in the urban and rural areas of Gujarat, and has helped set up a number of women-run institutions.SEWA supports diverse yet integrated development projects around livelihood support and protection, social security linkages, microfinance, healthcare, insurance, and housing in addition to special local projects.SEWA was founded in 1972 by Gandhian and civil rights leader Ela Bhatt as a branch of Textile Labour Association (TLA), a labour union founded by Gandhi in 1918.