Anasuya or Anusyabehn Sarabhai was a pioneer of the women's labour movement in India.
10 Facts About Anasuya Sarabhai
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Anasuya Sarabhai founded the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association, India's oldest union of textile workers, in 1920 and Kanyagruha, in 1927 to educate girls of the mills.
3.
Anasuya Sarabhai undertook an unsuccessful child marriage at the age of 13.
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Anasuya Sarabhai returned to India in 1913 and started working for betterment of women and the poor, particularly among mill workers.
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Anasuya Sarabhai decided to get involved in the labour movement after witnessing exhausted female mill workers returning home after a 36-hour shift.
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Anasuya Sarabhai helped organise textile workers in a 1914 strike in Ahmedabad.
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Anasuya Sarabhai was 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.
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Anasuya Sarabhai organized assorted craft unions early in her career and by 1920 was instrumental in establishing the conglomerate Textile Labour Association.
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Anasuya Sarabhai mentored Ela Bhatt, founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India.
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Anasuya Sarabhai was the aunt of Indian scientist Vikram Sarabhai who is regarded as the father of the Indian space program.