5,000 Women Run Asia's Oldest All-Women Market for 500 Years

Every morning before dawn, thousands of women in traditional dress arrive at Ima Keithel in Imphal, India, ready to open stalls they've inherited from their mothers. For 500 years, this extraordinary marketplace has operated without a single day of closure.

The market's story begins in the 16th century, when forced labor laws sent Meitei men away to war and farming. Left behind, women started trading their own produce to survive and feed their families.

They never stopped. Today, around 5,000 women run this marketplace, which locals call the "Queen of Markets."

Only married women can trade here, paying about 40 rupees monthly for their stall rights. The position passes from mother to daughter, making each stall both a business and a family legacy.

But Ima Keithel is more than a market. In 1939, when British administrators exported local rice to feed their troops, leaving families hungry, these women led the uprising.

When authorities tried to sell the market buildings to crush their resistance, the traders refused to leave. For them, the market represented identity itself, not just commerce.

The women created their own union to manage operations. They built an internal credit system that lets traders borrow money for stock and repay on their own terms, with no bank involved and no outside interference.

The Ripple Effect

This self-governed marketplace has sustained local economies for centuries while empowering generations of women. The system these traders built operates entirely on trust, with women supporting each other through lending circles and shared knowledge.

Dressed in phaneks and innaphis, they sell everything from fresh vegetables and dried fish to textiles and the famous Morok chilli. Some travel from distant villages daily, carrying goods and centuries of tradition.

Bilasini Devi, now 70, has sold fruit at Ima Keithel for over 45 years. "This market is like a second family to me," she says, still arriving every morning.

Before "women's economic empowerment" became a global talking point, the women of Manipur were already building supply chains, managing credit, and proving their indispensability.

Ima Keithel stands today as living proof that women's work has always been here, organized and resilient, holding communities together one generation at a time.