Women in Maharshtra’s Beed district are working in sugar fields for almost six months at a stretch. However, their employment has a prerequisite: they have to surgically get their wombs removed so that they don’t menstruate at all.
According to a report by the Hindu Business Line, cane cutting contractors are unwilling to hire women who menstruate, so hysterectomies have become the norm.
The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), states that the agrarian sector nearly employs 80% women workers. Despite such high numbers, both the sector and the macroeconomic policy framework are yet to recognise them as farmers.
Moreover, 81% of the female agricultural labourers belong to Dalit, Adivasi and OBC communities (ILO, 2010). The largest share of casual and landless labourers also come from these social groups.
Yet, women have to literally pay through their organs to keep their jobs.