Anasuya or Anusyabehn Sarabhai (11 November 1885 – 1 November 1972) was a pioneer of the women's

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. She founded the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association (Majdoor Mahajan Sangh), India's oldest union of textile workers, in 1920 and Kanyagruha, in 1927 to educate girls of the mills. Also being beloved friend and pupil of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

who considered her "Pujya" ("Revered"), during his initial struggle of the

Indian Independence Movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

and as well as helping him establish his ashram at Sabarmati.

Early life and education

Sarabhai was born in Ahmedabad on 11 November 1885 into the

Sarabhai family The Sarabhai family is a prominent Indian family active in several fields. The patriarch, Ambalal Sarabhai, was a leading industrialist. While he created significant wealth, his children interested themselves in a wide variety of other endeavou ...

, a family of industrialists and business people. Both her parents died when she was nine, so she, her brother

Ambalal Sarabhai Ambalal Sarabhai (23 February 1890 – 13 July 1967) was an Indian industrialist, philanthropist, institution builder, and supporter of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the chairman and promoter of Calico Mills and the founder of The Sarabhai Group of Com ...

, and a younger sister were sent to live with an uncle. She undertook an unsuccessful

child marriage Child marriage is a marriage or similar union, formal or informal, between a child under a certain age – typically 18 years – and an adult or another child. * * * * The vast majority of child marriages are between a female child and a mal ...

at the age of 13. The marriage was later annulled. With the help of her brother, she went to England in 1912 to take a medical degree, but switched to the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

when she realised the animal dissection involved in obtaining a medical degree was in violation of her

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

beliefs. Whilst in England, she was influenced by the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. T ...

, and got involved in the Suffragette movement.

Political career

Sarabhai returned to India in 1913 and started working for betterment of women and the poor, particularly among mill workers. She also started a school. She decided to get involved in the labour movement after witnessing exhausted female mill workers returning home after a 36-hour shift. She helped organise textile workers in a 1914 strike in Ahmedabad. She was also involved in a month-long strike in 1918, where weavers were asking for a 50 per cent increase in wages and were being offered 20 per cent.

, a friend of the family, was by then acting as a mentor to Sarabhai. Gandhi began a hunger strike on the workers' behalf, and the workers eventually obtained a 35 per cent increase. During the time, Sarabhai organized daily mass meetings of the workers that Gandhi addressed. Following this, in 1917, the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association (Majdoor Mahajan Sangh) was formed and Anasuya was made its lifelong president by Gandhi. Sarabhai organized assorted craft unions early in her career and by 1920 was instrumental in establishing the conglomerate Textile Labour Association. Throughout her life, Sarabhai assisted with negotiations and dispute resolution for the labourers that she worked with.

Legacy and death

Sarabhai was called ''Motaben'',

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

for "elder sister". She mentored

Ela Bhatt Ela Ramesh Bhatt (7 September 1933 – 2 November 2022) was an Indian cooperative organiser, activist and Gandhian, who founded the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA) in 1972, and served as its general secretary from 1972 to 199 ...

, founder of the

Self-Employed Women's Association of India Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), meaning "service" in several Indian languages, is a trade union based in Ahmedabad, India, that promotes the rights of low-income, independently employed female workers. With over 1.6 million partici ...

(SEWA). Sarabhai died on 1 November 1972. On 11 November 2017, Google celebrated Sarabhai's 132nd birthday with a

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

, visible to users in India. Anasuya Sarabhai was the aunt of Indian scientist

Vikram Sarabhai Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (12 August 1919 – 30 December 1971) was an Indian physicist and astronomer who initiated space research and helped develop nuclear power in India. He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1966 and the Padma Vibhushan ...

who is regarded as the father of the

Indian space program The Department of Space is an Indian government department responsible for administration of the Indian space program. It manages several agencies and institutes related to space exploration and space technologies. The Indian space program und ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarabhai, Anasuya Women in Gujarat politics 1972 deaths 1885 births Gujarati people Gujarat in Indian independence movement Indian women trade unionists Sarabhai family 20th-century Indian politicians 20th-century Indian women politicians Trade unionists from Gujarat 20th-century Indian Jains Politicians from Ahmedabad Alumni of the London School of Economics

Early life and education

Political career

Legacy and death

See also

References