Jaya Arunachalam was an Indian social worker and the founder of Working Women's Forum, a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

based in the Indian state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, working for the welfare of marginalized women. Starting in 1978, she channeled her activities under the aegis of the forum for organizing poor working women and provided them with seed capital to start their small business or to develop their existing business. Arunachalam was born on 8 February 1935 in Tamil Nadu in a

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

family and has a master's degree in economics and geography. She was a member of the governing council of the Society for International Development, Rome, and was recognized as the first South Asian woman to join the council. Arunachalam also served as the vice president of the

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) is the wing of Indian National Congress serving in Tamil Nadu. The current president is K.S. Alagari. Social policy of the TNCC is officially based upon the Gandhian principle of Sarvodaya (upliftment of all ...

and a member of the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...

, along with several committees related to women's welfare and development across India.

Working Women's Forum (WWF)

In 1978, Arunachalam founded the Working Women's Forum, an organization that aims to organize and unite women working in the informal sector, especially small-scale traders and sellers. By doing so, the WWF is able to identify and address the problems faced by women in unorganized professions, with a view to make policy decisions and empower these women through the provision of facilities such as training, credit, material inputs, etc. In line with any other worker union, the WWF allows women to collectively demand better working conditions, social and political rights. The WWF is an apolitical organization, and is secular, anti-case and anti-dowry. It exclusively focuses on women's economic mobilization. According to Arunachalam, the forum was created "to develop the total human resource potential of very poor women workers in the informal sector."

Indian Cooperative Network For Women (ICNW)

In 1981, Arunachalam initiated India's first cooperative organization for poor women, the Indian Cooperative Network for Women. This was established as an attempt to create an informal banking structure for women working in an informal setting. It works in sync with the Working Women's Forum, to provide loans and financial assistance to poor women. The ICNW in its underlying principles holds that intersectionality is extremely important to understand while understanding poverty and oppression among women. According to its website, ''"Five interwoven threads of oppression can be discerned as class exploitation, caste inferiority, male dominance, isolation in a closed world and physical weakness".'' Not only does the ICNW provide loans and extensions, it also assists the beneficiaries with insurance, legal awareness and digitalized coverage of the credit and income operations. Along with the efforts of the WWF, the ICNW has provided financial aid to over 7,00,000 women in over 3,000 villages and 1,600 slums.

Awards

She is a recipient of many awards such as Global Leadership Award for Economic Development from

Vital Voices Vital Voices Global Partnership is an American international, 501(c)(3), non-profit, non-governmental organization that works with women leaders in the areas of economic empowerment, women's political participation, and human rights. The organiz ...

, International Activist Award (2003) from the Gliestman Foundation, California, and the Rashtriya Ekta Award from the National Awareness Forum, India. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

awarded her the fourth highest civilian award of

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

in 1987 by the Union Government of India and the

Stree Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is the highest civilian hon ...

by the State Government of

in 2002. She received the Jamnalal Bajaj Award in 2009. In 2010, she was chosen for the Social Lifetime Achievement Award in the Godfrey Philips National Bravery Awards.

Personal life

Arunachalam was born on 8 February 1935 in Tamil Nadu, India, to a

family. After obtaining her master's degree, in 1955 she married a Chettiar man who, despite being educated, was not approved of by her parents. She was shunned by her family, including her parents and six sisters, who after the death of her mother reconciled with her. Her daughter, Nandini Azad, is now the president of the ICNW and has taken over all operations of the WWF from her. Arunachalam died on June 29, 2019, after an illness that lasted for two weeks. She spent her last days in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arunachalam, Jaya 1935 births Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work Women in Tamil Nadu politics Indian women activists 2019 deaths 20th-century Indian women educational theorists 20th-century Indian educational theorists Social workers from Tamil Nadu Women educators from Tamil Nadu Educators from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian women educators 20th-century Indian educators

Working Women's Forum (WWF)

Indian Cooperative Network For Women (ICNW)

Awards

Personal life

See also

References