The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), first created in the Indian state of Gujarat, is a unique trade union. So successful, that currently it has 217,000 members in organised collectives throughout the sub-continent. SEWA began as an attempt to assist and organise India’s countless poor women, toiling at home, as street vendors or in the fields, ‘self-employed’ because they have no employer.

Regardless of differences in religious and caste backgrounds, the SEWA women have created their own network of empowering structures, including their own bank. SEWA also concerns itself with issues of health and training & and education. Inventive and courageous, these women have stepped out from the shadows and their quiet determination is reflected in Plattner’s beautifully filmed, unobtrusive style.