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argaining, women in informal employment have,in parallel, opted to form their own organizations torepresent their interests. 303Informal workers confront many challenges in theirefforts to organize. For self-employed informalworkers, the traditional employer-employeerelationship, which is the basis for collectivebargaining, does not exist. For women workingon the lowest rungs of global value chains—forexample, in garment factories—negotiating onconditions with local factory owners may havelimited impact when the downward pressure onpay and conditions of work originates many milesaway with parent companies in the North (seestory: Out of the ashes). Furthermore, informalworkers frequently do their jobs in dispersedworkplaces, making it difficult to come togetherto build a collective identity and coordinatecampaigns. 304Some informal work—such as sex work and wastepicking—is stigmatized, which may make theseworkers reluctant even to identify what they do aswork. Some informal workers face multiple forms ofdiscrimination and exclusion—for example, migrantsoften contend with hostility from the authorities aswell as from other workers, who perceive that theyare undercutting their jobs. 305Addressing these challenges calls for diverse,context-specific strategies. Alongside genderdifferences, class, caste, race, ethnic and nationalitydivisions have to be skillfully negotiated andincorporated into strategies built around sharedidentities and goals. 306 What organizationsof informal workers have in common are theoverarching priorities to seek redress for the socioeconomicdisadvantage they face, by making workmore viable and remunerative and to combatstigma and redefine social norms (see Box 2.11).BOX 2.11Women informal workers organizing for changeOrganizations of women informal workers often start with initiatives to meet their immediate, practicalneeds and to empower members to see themselves as workers with rights, as a basis for buildinga collective identity. In the longer term, the aim is to support women to negotiate for change withemployers, subcontracting firms and buyers, national and local governments or even the general public.The largest and best known organization of informal workers is the Self-Employed Women’s Association(SEWA), which was established in India in 1972. Today, SEWA counts almost 2 million members spanningdiverse forms of informal work. The organization provides a range of services to members—includingsavings and credit, health and childcare, insurance, legal aid and capacity building—to enable womento become self-reliant. 307 SEWA also supports members in negotiations with employers to improveworking conditions. For example, SEWA Delhi, in partnership with the UK-based Ethical Trading Initiative(ETI), negotiated with lead firms to buy directly from home-based workers rather than throughintermediaries in the supply chain. This enabled sub-contracted workers to become self-employed, withtheir own producer group, and to negotiate better rates for their goods. 308In Brazil, the Domestic Workers’ Federation (FENATRAD) has been at the forefront of efforts to improveworking conditions for the country’s 7 million domestic workers, resulting in successive legal reforms toadvance their rights. 309 Alongside these campaigns, FENATRAD has used radio, evening courses andnetworking in communities, families and churches to link with hard-to-reach and isolated domesticworkers. 310119