All-women trade organization (VPMS)
Organizing women auto drivers under a single formal organization to empower women in a traditionally male-dominated sector.
Empowerment
The Challenge
- •Lack of sustainable employment and ownership models for informal and marginalized workers.
- •Women in non-traditional sectors often face low wages, poor working conditions, and limited agency.
- •Traditional business structures do not prioritize worker voice or equitable profit-sharing.
- •Existing systems fail to support women-led enterprises in male-dominated trades like transport and sanitation.
Our Approach
- •Facilitating the formation of cooperatives owned and run by the workers themselves, particularly women.
- •Supporting the Veera Pengal Munnetra Sangam (VPMS) – an all-women trade organization in Chennai – in establishing cooperatives.
- •Partnering with workers to build worker-led institutions that improve wages, conditions, and dignity.
- •Offering legal, administrative, and financial tools for cooperative registration and self-governance.
- •Organizing women across multiple sectors (transport, conservancy, rag-picking, gig economy) into sustainable structures.
- •Training and media support to amplify voices, enhance storytelling, and strengthen community organizing.
Our Vision
- •Create a worker-led cooperative ecosystem where women are leaders in their trades and communities.
- •Ensure every woman worker in the informal economy has access to social protection, benefits, and decision-making power.
- •Build sustainable, inclusive institutions that expand across trades and serve as a national model for equitable labor organization.
- •Promote economic justice and collective ownership as a pathway to social transformation.
Our Partners
- •Veera Pengal Munnetra Sangam (VPMS) – spearheading women-led unionization and cooperatives in Chennai.
- •IFMR/LEAD – research partner in studying worker empowerment and impact.
- •Storiculture – media training partner empowering women with storytelling, advocacy, and digital communication skills.
- •University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Labor Center – producing podcasts on women worker experiences.
- •India's leading business schools – providing platforms for recognition and showcasing worker-led enterprise models.
- •The Hindu – national media coverage supporting visibility and awareness.
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