Jaya Arunachalam

Jaya Arunachalam is an Indian social worker and the founder of Working Women's Forum, a non governmental organization based in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, working for the welfare of marginalized women. Starting in 1978, she channeled her activities under the aegis of the forum for organizing poor working women and provided them with seed capitals as micro credit, with assistance from banks, to start their own small businesses.

Arunachalam was born on 8 February 1935 in Tamil Nadu in a Brahmin family and has master's degree in economics and geography. She is a member of the governing council of the Society for International Development, Rome, the first woman from south Asia to sit in the council. She is a recipient of 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. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 1987. She received the Jamnalal Bajaj Award in 2009.