>Pranesh Ravikumar at 08:11, 12 January 2022

2022-01-12T08:11:55Z

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{{short description|Women welfare activist}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Jaya Arunachalam
| office = Founder, Working Women's Forum
| successor = Nandini Azad
| country = India
| state = Tamil Nadu
| born =
| death_date = 29 June 2019
| death_place = Chennai, Tamil Nadu
| awards = Padma Shri, Stree Shakti Puraskar
| notable works = Working Women's Forum
Indian Cooperative Network For Women
Vice President of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee
| social worker = Women's Rights and Financial Mobility
| birth_date = 8 February 1935
| birth_place = Tamil Nadu, India
}}
'''Jaya Arunachalam''' was an Indian social worker and the founder of [[Working Women's Forum]], a [[non governmental organization|non-governmental organization]] based in the Indian state of [[Tamil Nadu]], working for the welfare of marginalized women.<ref name="Empowering the women of Madras">{{cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2212246.stm | title=Empowering the women of Madras | publisher=BBC News | date=23 August 2002 | access-date=9 September 2015}}</ref> Starting in 1978, she channeled her activities under the aegis of the forum for organizing poor working women and provided them with seed capital to start their small business or to develop their existing business.<ref name="Empowering the women of Madras" />

Arunachalam was born on 8 February 1935<ref name="Jamnalal Bajaj Award">{{cite web|url=http://www.jamnalalbajajfoundation.org/awards/archives/2009/women-and-child-welfare/dr-smt-jaya-arunachalam |title=Jamnalal Bajaj Award |publisher=Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation |date=2015 |access-date=13 October 2015 }}{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> in Tamil Nadu in a [[Brahmin]] family and has a master's degree in economics and geography.<ref name="A Lifelong Champion Of India's Poorest Women">{{cite web | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41484-2005May6.html | title=A Lifelong Champion Of India's Poorest Women | work=The Washington Post | date=6 May 2005 | access-date=9 September 2015}}</ref> She was a member of the governing council of the [[Society for International Development]], Rome, and was recognized as the first South Asian woman to join the council.<ref name="Fight against poverty">{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2005/06/05/stories/2005060500220400.htm | archive-url=https://archive.today/20160402055329/http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2005/06/05/stories/2005060500220400.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=2 April 2016 | title=Fight against poverty | date=5 June 2005 | work=[[The Hindu]] | access-date=9 September 2015}}</ref>

Arunachalam also served as the vice president of the [[Tamil Nadu Congress Committee]] and a member of the [[All India Congress Committee]], along with several committees related to women's welfare and development across India.<ref name="deccanchronicle.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/300619/veteran-social-activist-jaya-arunachalam-passes-away.html|title=Veteran social activist Jaya Arunachalam passes away|date=2019-06-30|website=Deccan Chronicle|language=en|access-date=2020-03-10}}</ref>

== Working Women's Forum (WWF) ==
In 1978, Arunachalam founded the [[Working Women's Forum]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Chen|first=M.|date=1983|title=The Working Women's Forum: organizing for credit and change|journal=Seeds (New York, N.Y.)|issue=6|pages=1–20|issn=0736-6833|pmid=12339014}}</ref> an organization that aims to organize and unite women working in the informal sector, especially small-scale traders and sellers. By doing so, the WWF is able to identify and address the problems faced by women in unorganized professions, with a view to make policy decisions and empower these women through the provision of facilities such as training, credit, material inputs, etc.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.gdrc.org/icm/wwf-intro.html|title=Working Women's Forum|website=gdrc.org|access-date=2020-03-10}}</ref> In line with any other worker union, the WWF allows women to collectively demand better working conditions, social and political rights.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:Secretary Clinton Visits the Working Women's Forum in Chennai.jpg|alt=Jaya Arunachalam (left) and former US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (right)|thumb|Hillary Clinton visiting the Working Women's Forum in July 2011]]
The WWF is an apolitical organization, and is secular, anti-case and anti-dowry. It exclusively focuses on women's economic mobilization.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> According to Arunachalam, the forum was created "to develop the total human resource potential of very poor women workers in the informal sector.”<ref name="deccanchronicle.com"/>

== Indian Cooperative Network For Women (ICNW) ==
In 1981, Arunachalam initiated India's first cooperative organization for poor women, the Indian Cooperative Network for Women.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://icnw.in/about-us/|title=About Us – http://www.icnw.in/|website=icnw.in|access-date=2020-03-10}}</ref> This was established as an attempt to create an informal banking structure for women working in an informal setting. It works in sync with the Working Women's Forum, to provide loans and financial assistance to poor women.<ref name="indiancooperative.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.indiancooperative.com/from-states/end-of-an-era-legendary-cooperator-jaya-arunachalam-passes-away/|title=End of an era: Legendary cooperator Jaya Arunachalam passes away|date=2019-06-30|website=Indian Cooperative|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-10}}</ref>

The ICNW in its underlying principles holds that intersectionality is extremely important to understand while understanding poverty and oppression among women. According to its website, ''"Five interwoven threads of oppression can be discerned as class exploitation, caste inferiority, male dominance, isolation in a closed world and physical weakness".'' <ref name=":2" />

Not only does the ICNW provide loans and extensions, it also assists the beneficiaries with insurance, legal awareness and digitalized coverage of the credit and income operations.<ref name=":2" /> Along with the efforts of the WWF, the ICNW has provided financial aid to over 7,00,000 women in over 3,000 villages and 1,600 slums.<ref name="Jaya Arunachalam">{{Cite web|url=https://www.giraffe.org/jaya-arunachalam|title=Jaya Arunachalam|website=giraffe.org|language=en|access-date=2020-03-10}}</ref>

==Awards==
She is a recipient of many awards such as Global Leadership Award for Economic Development from [[Vital Voices]], International Activist Award (2003) from the Gliestman Foundation, California, and the Rashtriya Ekta Award from the National Awareness Forum, India.<ref name="Fight against poverty" /> The [[Government of India]] awarded her the fourth highest civilian award of [[Padma Shri]] in 1987 by the Union Government of India and the [[Stree Shakti Puraskar]] by the State Government of [[Tamil Nadu]] in 2002.<ref name="indiancooperative.com"/> She received the [[Jamnalal Bajaj Award]] in 2009.<ref name="Jamnalal Bajaj Award" /> In 2010, she was chosen for the Social Lifetime Achievement Award in the [[Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Awards|Godfrey Philips National Bravery Awards]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/Lifetime-achievement-award-for-Jaya-Arunachalam/article15675668.ece|title=Lifetime achievement award for Jaya Arunachalam|date=2010-11-05|work=The Hindu|access-date=2018-04-26|others=Special Correspondent|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Arunachalam was born on 8 February 1935 in Tamil Nadu, India, to a [[Brahmin]] family.<ref name="Jaya Arunachalam"/> After obtaining her master's degree, in 1955 she married a Chettiar man who, despite being educated, was not approved of by her parents. She was shunned by her family, including her parents and six sisters, who after the death of her mother reconciled with her.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kannan|first=Amutha|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/Working-towards-making-women-an-alternative-head-at-home/article12551204.ece|title=Working towards making women an alternative head at home|date=2012-10-09|work=The Hindu|access-date=2020-03-10|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

Her daughter, Nandini Azad, is now the president of the ICNW and has taken over all operations of the WWF from her.<ref name="Reporter">{{Cite news|author=Staff Reporter|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/working-womens-forum-founder-jaya-arunachalam-passes-away/article28226989.ece|title=Working Women's Forum founder Jaya Arunachalam passes away|date=2019-06-29|work=The Hindu|access-date=2020-03-10|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

Arunachalam died on June 29, 2019, after an illness that lasted for two weeks. She spent her last days in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.<ref name="Reporter"/>

==See also==
* [[Working Women's Forum]]
* [[Society for International Development]]
* [[Vital Voices]]
{{portal|India}}

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Social Work}}
{{Jamnalal Bajaj Award winners}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arunachalam, Jaya}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work]]
[[Category:Women in Tamil Nadu politics]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:Social workers]]
[[Category:2019 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:Social workers from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Women educators from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Educators from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]

Jaya Arunachalam - Revision history

>Pranesh Ravikumar at 08:11, 12 January 2022