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Two very disturbing news about working women and menstruation has emerged in India in recent months.
Rules have long been a taboo subject in the country. It is thought that women who are menstruating are impure and are always excluded from social and religious events. In recent years, these archaic ideas have been increasingly challenged, particularly by educated women in urban settings.
Two recent reports show, however, that the very problematic relationship between India and menstruation continues. A large majority of women, especially those from poor families, without agencies or education, are forced to make choices that have long-term and irreversible impacts on their health and lives.
The first comes from the western state of Maharashtra, where Indian media revealed that thousands of young women had undergone surgery to remove the uterus over the past three years. In many cases, they did so to be able to work as sugar cane pickers.
Every year, tens of thousands of poor families in Beed, Osmanabad, Sangli and Solapur districts migrate to the wealthier districts of the western part of the state – known as the "sugar belt" – to work for six months as "cutters" in the sugar cane fields.
Once there, they are at the mercy of greedy entrepreneurs who exploit every opportunity to exploit them.
For starters, they are reluctant to hire women because cutting cane is hard work and women may miss a day or two of work during their period. If they miss a day's work, they must pay a penalty.
Living conditions in their workplace are far from ideal – families have to live in huts or tents near fields, there are no toilets, and as harvests sometimes take place even at night, there is no fixed time for sleeping or sleeping. Eve. And when women have their period, it becomes even more difficult for them.
Due to poor hygiene conditions, many women get infections and, according to activists working in the area, unscrupulous doctors encourage them to undergo unnecessary surgery, even if they go for a minor gynecological problem which can be treated with drugs.
Since most women in these areas are married young, many have two or three children by the time they reach the age of 20, and because doctors do not tell them about the problems they would face if they experienced a hysterectomy, many think it's good to get rid of their belly.
This has transformed several villages in the region into "women's villages without belly".
Tens of thousands of women work as sugar cane harvesters in India
After legislator Neelam Gorhe raised the issue last month in the National Assembly, Maharashtra's health minister, Eknath Shinde, admitted that there had been 4,605 hysterectomies in Beed District. in three years. But, he said, they were not all done on women who worked as sugar cane harvesters. The minister said a committee had been set up to investigate several of the cases.
My colleague Prajakta Dhulap of the BBC Marathi Language Service, who visited the village of Vanjarwadi in the Beed district, says that between October and March, 80% of the villagers migrate to work in the sugar cane fields. She reports that half of the women in the village have had a hysterectomy – most are under 40 and some are still in their twenties.
Many of the women interviewed said that their health had deteriorated since their operation. One woman spoke of "the persistent pain in her back, neck and knees" and how she wakes up in the morning with "her hands, her face and her feet swollen". Another complaint is "constant dizziness" and its inability to walk, even over short distances. As a result, they both stated that they were no longer able to work in the fields.
The second news, from the state of Tamil Nadu, in the south of the country, is also alarming. Women working in the multi-billion dollar apparel industry claim they were given untagged drugs at work – instead of a day off – while complaining of menstrual pain .
According to a Thomson Reuters Foundation presentation, based on interviews with about 100 women, drugs were rarely provided by health professionals and seamstresses, mostly from disadvantaged disadvantaged families, said they could not afford to lose a day's pay due to menstrual pains.
The 100 women interviewed reported receiving drugs and more than half said their health had been affected.
Most said they did not receive the names of the medications or warned of possible side effects.
Many women have attributed these medications to their health problems, ranging from depression to anxiety, urinary tract infections, fibroids and miscarriages.
The reports forced the authorities to act. The National Women's Commission described the situation of women in Maharashtra as "pathetic and miserable" and asked the state government to prevent such "atrocities" in the future. In Tamil Nadu, the government announced that it would monitor the health of garment workers.
The reports come at a time when efforts are being made around the world to increase women's participation in the labor market by implementing gender-sensitive policies.
It is disturbing to note that women's participation in the labor market in India has increased from 36% in 2005-2006 to 25.8% in 2015-2016 and it is not difficult to understand why if we look at the conditions in which women must work.
The multi-billion dollar apparel industry in Tamil Nadu employs 300,000 women
In Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and a few other countries, women are entitled to one day off during their period. Many private companies also offer similar relief.
"In India too, the Bihar state government has allowed employees to take an extra two days a month since 1992 and that seems to be working very well," says Urvashi Prasad, public policy specialist in the Indian government. think tank, Niti Aayog.
And last year, a woman MP tabled in Parliament a bill on menstrual benefits, which provided two days off a month for every worker in the country.
Ms Prasad explained that the implementation of any policy in a country as vast as India, especially in the informal sector, required increased monitoring. But, she says, if a start is made in the formal sector, this can mark a change in mentality and help eliminate the stigma surrounding menstruation in India.
"What we need, therefore, is that the powerful organized private sector and the government take a stand, we need people at the top of the hierarchy to send the right signals," she said. "We have to start somewhere and we can hope to see a change in the unorganized sector too."
The bill on menstrual benefits is a bill from a member of Parliament. It is therefore unlikely that it will come to much, but if it became law, it would probably be advantageous for women working in Tamil Nadu's garment factories to implement it.
But such social protection measures rarely benefit people employed in India's vast, unorganized sector, which means that women like those working in the sugar cane fields of Maharashtra will remain at the mercy of their families. subcontractors.
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