The IWA and the Association of Indian Women

“A special attention should be given to expanding the activities of the IWA among the youth and women. Encouragement should be given to the formation of Youth and Women’s associations at local and national levels…The problems of women should be studied, and women themselves should be encouraged to take the initiative in correcting the injustices which are committed against them by menfolk. In this field the following points should be given careful thought: a) abolition of dowry and the establishment of total equality between men and women both in social life and in terms of job opportunities, b) the end of the exploitation of women workers in unorganised industry, in household establishments and small scale industries through increased unionisation and fight for equal pay, and c) the creation of recreational activities for women and children.”

IWA, 1977, 1.3.47

Throughout its history the involvement (or lack of) of women of Indian heritage in the Indian Workers Association has been a cause for concern. Conference reports, central executive committee minutes and strategic reviews of the organisation regularly lament the lack of engagement and involvement of women of Indian heritage in the association. Whilst able to articulate (some of) the concerns that women of Indian heritage living in Britain may have, the IWA(GB) has distinctly less to say about the barriers and challenges organisations such as theirs may present to the engagement of Indian women. There are reports from women involved with the IWA about their struggles for recognition within the organisation, alongside details of their attempts to set up a women’s association and some of the activities they organised. The relationship between the IWA(GB), women and the Association of Indian Women then remains a partial story, which needs further time to be explored, understood and documented in more detail. The material here presents just a small snapshot of some of the gendered concerns of the association and also the activities of the Association of Indian Women.

Archival material