INTRODUCTION
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on informal women workers and their cooperatives. Cooperatives in the informal sector, particularly those owned by women, were hardest hit as they have precariously low resources to absorb shocks of this magnitude. This is significant as informal women workers make up 94 percent of the female labour force in India. However, during the lockdown, the cooperatives increased their efforts and mobilised resources to provide relief to their members. In an effort to highlight the work done by women-owned cooperatives during the pandemic and to highlight their needs, the SEWA Cooperative Federation, the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI),and SEWA Bharat co-organized a session that brought together women cooperative leaders’ voices from the grassroots, as well as experts from public organisations and civil society organizations.
The panelists represented cooperatives from across the country: Ms.Pushpa Bhatt (SEWA Ekta, Uttarakhand), Ms.Sunlit Ruphus (Bamboo and Reed Artisan Federation,Kerala), Ms.Shalini Tomar (Indore Credit Cooperative, Madhya Pradesh), Ms. VecholouKanuo (Chakhesang Women Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, Nagaland) and Ms. Sadhna Parmar (SEWA Saundarya,Gujarat).The session was moderated by Ms. Mirai Chatterjee (Chairperson, SEWA Cooperative Federation and Director, SEWA Social Security).
