Ela Bhatt Receives Honorary Degree from Yale University
May 27, 2002
New Haven, Connecticut, May 27, 2002—Ten outstanding individuals were awarded honorary degrees by Yale University during Commencement Exercises on Old Campus on Monday, May 27. Among those honored was Ela Ramesh Bhatt, who was awarded a Doctor of Social Science. Other honorees included Jeanne Quint Benoliel, Robert L. Carter, William Sloane Coffin, Robert Fagles, Gordon E. Moore, Steven Spielberg, Claude Mason Steele, Lawrence Henry Summers, and Shirley Tilghman.Ela Ramesh Bhatt is the founder and General Secretary of SEWA, Self-Employed Women's Association, and the founder and chair of the Sewa Cooperative Bank, both of which are headquartered in Ahmedabad, India. She established SEWA in 1972 and within three years it had 7,000 members. By 2001, SEWA had more than 421,000 members, making it the largest single primary trade union in India. The success of SEWA led Ms. Bhatt to become a founding member and chairperson of Women's World Banking in New York in 1980 and of Friends of Women’s World Banking (FWWB) in India. The Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program (UUHIP) is a long time supporter of Dr. Bhatt’s work; SEWA has been a Holdeen India Program partner since UUHIP’s inception in 1984, and FWWB has been a Holdeen partner since its founding ten years ago.
Her citation from Yale reads:
"Inspired by your teacher Mahatma Gandhi, you have worked to lift poor working women out of poverty and oppression in your native India. You have created the Self-Employed Women's Association, now India's largest single trade union, and its affiliated bank which supports village entrepreneurs through programs of micro-lending. Recognizing that poverty is a political issue, you have confronted the oppression of poor women and have helped provide the means for dignity, security, and freedom from want for thousands of women and their families. We honor your intrepid spirit and enterprise for others with the degree of Doctor of Social Science."
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
