Google Doodle Celebrates Women's Activist Anasuya Sarabhai

Today is women’s activist Anasuya Sarabhai's 132nd birth anniversary. She founded the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association (Majoor Mahajan Sangh), India’s oldest union of textile workers, in 1920. Anasuya pioneered the women’s labour movement in India.

Here are a few things to know about her.

Anasuya was born in 1885 to the Sarabhai family in Ahmedabad. She lost both her parents when she was nine, and her uncle married her at the age of 13. But she took matters into her own hands, and divorced her husband.

She went to study in England, in 1912. While studying, she met Fabianists like George Bernard Shaw and Sydney Webb, who rejected Marxism. Instead of being revolutionary, they recommended instead a gradual transition to a socialist society.

When she came back, she opened a school for poor students and made sure that it had creches and toilets for women.

When epidemic hit Ahmedabad in 1914, the condition of the mill workers deteriorated and they approached Anasuya to take up their cause. She gave an ultimatum to the mill owners and even went against her brother, Ambalal, who was the then-president of the Mill Owners’ Association. Anasuya demanded better wages and work conditions for the labourers

Mahatma Gandhi supported her and she managed to get the mill owners to hike the wage of the mill workers by 35 per cent.

Ela Bhatt met Anasuya in the 1950s and the two became friends. Together, they set up the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA) in 1972. Sadly, she passed away after a month

The doodle was created by Maria Qamar, Pakistani-Canadian artist and author of the book ‘Trust No Aunty’. She is also famous for her Halloween doodles.

Kudos to Google for remembering such a fierce lady, who was way ahead of her times, and forged the way for women in India.

Also Read: Google Doodle Celebrates Sitara Devi

Picture Credit: Scroll