In many ways Elaben is an enigma and an anachronism in today's world. A favourite on the international lecture circuit, she is particularly sought after by those groups who are considered radical, progressive, liberal and anti-establishment. By those who challenge the high and mighty economic monoliths, the lovers of "small is beautiful", those who make themselves feel good as people with the right kind of conscience. The Gandhian's soft voice, traditional simplicity and stories of how one or the other sister gained empowerment in a village community make the sterile auditoriums and lives of western liberals gain meaning through their vicarious association with her grassroots work.

How has the world benefited from Elaben's contributions? Has India done its bit for her and dropped her? Has the media decided that Gandhian workers are not glamorous enough to match neo-celebrities like Bina Ramani and Nafisa Ali? Is society uncaring or does Elaben's work lack the punch that makes people sit up? An honest answer is a bit of both.

Best known for founding the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), her pioneering work has been in creating institutions through which the lowest rungs of working women become self-reliant. The idea of trade unionism in the self-employed sector is difficult enough as it is. To be a woman breaking away from the grip of an established trade union in which men ran the show was a bold step by which she created her own paths and methods of organisation. That she did it without militancy and aggressive rhetoric was unusual in itself and that these became models for international institutions and NGOs is further proof of the efficacy of her actions.

Bhatt received much recognition for her work between 1977 and 1987. In India and around the world, democracy in its purer form, idealism in world politics, moral values in political strategies were still around. Those years in India covered the post-Jayaprakash Narayan phase when volunteerism was a new form of social work. NGOs were expected to raise awareness, lobby for people's rights, do constructive work for development and, most importantly, were not expected to buck the system beyond a point. The establishment was supposed to respond to them positively out of the goodness of its non-existent heart.

Elaben's trade union work seemed more akin to NGO activity and was therefore found more acceptable to those who wielded power. In fact, she became a showpiece for the establishment. She created new spaces and terms for women's work without really pushing the vested interests out of business. At the same time she did not extend herself or her agenda beyond a limited horizon.

In the early '90s when the so-called developing nations of Asia and Africa succumbed to the prescriptions of GATT and a more heartless economic order, Elaben stayed away from the unified protest actions of both the trade unions and the NGOs in India. SEWA women did not participate in these "people's movements", which was a setback for them.

Elaben's work and her institutions have been models that have been replicated only half-heartedly, with no effective results. Her involvement and contribution to the preparation of the Shram Shakti report in the mid-'80s on working women all over India is an invaluable reference document which now needs updating. Instead of using the political system to effectively lobbying or struggle for better rights for working women, Elaben has chosen to limit her field of action even while she shares her ideas and experience across the globe.

The relevance of her work is even greater now, yet most chose to applaud but not to imitate her. In a world where the politics of power dominates, Elaben's woman-power needs to move back centrestage and play a more challenging rather than a demonstrative role.

Jaya Jaitly is secretary, Samata Party. She is also a women's rights activist and president, Dastkari Haat Samiti.