Abstract
This paper examines the intersectional violation of women’s rights, particularily the reproductive coercion faced by unorganized women workers in the country. It weaves through feminist theory, human rights dicourse, sociological analysis and constitutional morality to explore how exploitative labour systems converge to create neo-bondage and reproductive injustice. The narrative underscores how systemic patriarchy,informal labor markets and state negligence perpetuate exploitation, while drawing on both national and global legal frameworks. The paper highlights how oppressive social norms are reproduced through silence, misinformation and lack of legal-political awareness. Ultimately, the study advocates for an inclusive intersectional empowerment, collective resistance and transformative justice that affirms dignity and bodily autonomy.
Introduction
The claim that human dignity is inviolable and must never be instrumentalized stands as a cornerstone of modern ethical and legal thought. Yet, this foundational principle is breached in the rural interiors of Maharashtra, where women’s reproductive capacities are forcibly commodified under the relentless pressures of poverty, caste hierarchy, and neoliberal economic imperatives. This covert exploitation — a form of “harvesting injustice” — is not merely a failure of law or policy but a symptom of deeper systemic violence that renders marginalized women both economically indispensable and socially disposable.
In these contexts, the universalist language of human rights falters. Abstract ideals of autonomy and freedom ,when confronted with the material realities of neo-bondage, exposes a profound fissure between normative rights claims and lived experience. This rupture demands more effective interventions; it calls for an analytic framework capable of addressing the intertwined relations of caste, class, gender, and labor that sustain this violence.This study foregrounds that rupture, aiming to illuminate how entrenched social hierarchies and economic exploitation conspire to violate women’s rights in ways that remain invisible within dominant legal and ethical discourses.
The Hidden Cost Of Sugar; Unmasking The Womb Politics
‘Human beings shoud be treated as an end in themselves and not as means to satisfy the ends’. Every individual has an undeniable intrinsic worth as human beings and hence must not be treated on the mere basis of instrumental motivation. The central theme of the foresaid moral principles of Immanuel Kant remains highly crucial, even in the contemporary philosophical justification of human rights. Furthermore, such an approach in the interpretation of indivisible human rights ensures that the basic rights are valued and the basic needs are met, without giving much room for one to contradict the other. But do they really run through all walks of the modern techno- economic life or do they remain constrained only in the domain of philosophy, ethics and procedural law ? Well, the life of those rural Indian women, who are ‘paying the cost of neo-bondage with their wombs’ is a recent manifestation of the same.
The saga of the exploitation hovers around the impoverished rural outskirts of Beed district in the state of Maharashtra, which serves as a home for the migrant sugar-cane cutting population. The frequent occurrence of dry spells and inadequancy of water resources force them to undergo seasonal migration and then work as sugarcane cutters. Neo – bondage disguised in the form of demanding informal labour contracts, entraps them in the never ending cycle of backbreaking work which often calls for 16 hours of hustle each day and even penalising them for the missed work. Dutch sociologist Jan Breman refers to these migrant working mass who are getting cornered and exploited, as a ‘new class of nowhere people’ in the preface of ‘Capitalism, Inequality and Labour in India’. Succumbing to the vicious cycle of gruelling labour and defenseless living conditions , the sugar cane cutter women undergo hysterectomy so as not to suffer from wage cuts.
Despite of repeating the burdensome loop of tying the canes to heavy bundles and lifting them to the trucks on the other ends of the fields, the workers are even deprived of intervals and holidays . The report of the concerned local government survey states that about one in five female sugar cane worker had already undergone the surgery. On the surface, it seems to appear as a surgery without having the backstory of an active compulsion . But the labor brokers (better known as Mukkadams)even loan a good sum of money for the surgery and never fails to passively manipulate the uneducated women , so that they have no option left than trusting the process as a quick fix for their troubled lives. The robust influence of the Mukkadams is highly evident as they cultivate a constant fear of losing the job and being penalised for lesser productivity, among the women.
This eventually drives these female workers to undergo uterus removal surgery. The predatory approach of the private clinics in fostering the surgery as a recent trend, must be also noted in this juncture. Even the women complain for being mislead , by warning them about the imminent possibility of uterine tumours and cancers when approached with other ailments and infections. According to the report submitted by the health panel appointed by Maharashtra Health Department on unauthorised hysterectomies in the state , fraudulent private practitioners were found offering surgery without adequate medical counselling. However, these women who undergo hysterectomy for uninterrupted receipt of wages and better productivity, tragically land at the condition of ill-health. Post – hysterectomy morbidities includes insomnia , depression , backache and so on . Thus the surgical process turns out to be futile with grim outcome, originally doubling their debt burden, now coupled with morbidites.
Feminism and Intersectionality; Decoding Multidimensional Oppressions
Kimberle Crenshaw wisely coined the term ‘Intersectionality’ in her paper ‘Demarginalizing The Intersection Of Race And Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory And Antiracist Politics’ and tracked the infringement of human and women rights through an intersectional lens. According to Crenshaw ,‘All inequality is not created equal’ and it was further illustrated by her through the 1976 case of Degraffenried Vs General Motors. This analytical tool critically evaluates invisible power relations and explains how social identities interlocks to create compounding experiences of discrimination. A deeper understanding of intersectional feminism that tries to establish connections with justice, liberty and gender identity is indispensable in this regard. Intersectional feminism is an integral constituent of Indian Dalit feminist thought,evaluating the overlay of caste, class and gender in India.
Examining the plight of the female sugar cane workers in Beed, intersection of multiple factors under the broad spectrum of socio-economic and environmental disadavantages including poverty, destitution and climate change with womanhood aggravates the misery. Thus the foresaid factors must not be evaluated in isolation, as it’s interlocking effect makes women utmost vulnerable to exploitation . The gravity of the exploitation deepens furthermore with the patriarchial norms and gender role expectations, which stereotypes the women , right from their own households. Such attemptes to closely evaluate the complex interdependence between the public and private spheres started gaining much momentum with the release of the book ‘A Vindication Of The Rights Of The Woman’ authored by Mary Wollstonecraft in 1792.
Still, the women in Beed start hustling hours before heading to the fields to fetch water and to settle household chores and toil again to finish off the domestic works late at night. The external compulsions and obligations made by custom, culture and norms regulates the thoughts and behaviour of the women so as to fit perfectly in the duties of an obedient wife/sister/mother. These social events that even coerce an individual’s thinking and that even transcends an individual’s subjective sense of self and behaviour was defined as ‘Social facts’ by French Sociologist Emile Durkheim. According to Durkheim , social facts are ‘Sui- Generis’ and contributes to the collective conscience which exist above the level of an individual. Thus the excessive external constraints and imposed codes of behaviour that foster the existing gender stereotypes and roles doubles the burden of those female workers.
Women’s Rights At The Crossroads of Law And Lived Morality
It is integral to dwindle the stark contrast that exist between customary morality and modern rule of law , especially in a transitional society like that of India. Not mere literacy, but education can have a decisive role here , so as to bridge this gap between customary morality and modern constitutional morality. Even in the remarkable judgement of Navtej Singh Johar and others Vs Union of India (2018) , the Supreme court ruled that Constitutional morality takes precedence over social norms and morality.
Educating these women on the prevailing rights and privileges not just for the sake of knowledge , but with an intent of empowerment can yield better results in acknowleding and resisting mortified treatments, exclusion and torture. “Pombilai Orumai” ( meaning women’s unity) in Kerala , was one such rare event in the history of labour resistance in India where the Dalit women protestors mobilized themselves against the choking influence of capitalism and patriarchial norms.
The women plantation workers autonomously united against the mighty multinational company , demanding wage hike and revolted to shackle the foundation of patriarchial power structure in trade unions. The strike challenged caste prejudices , gender and ethnic stereotypes faced by the women workers and thus challenged the social relations that disempower them. Hence it can be better cited as an exemplification of the possibilities of oppressed working class to revolt against injustice, exploitation and exclusion even without any organizational framework.
Thus it is also explicit that masculinized forms of domination that exists in all of the social and cultural settings as well as in the traditional marriage contract, culminates in sexism and greater or less, it selectively discriminates women in all societies. According to Carole Pateman (feminist political theorist) this contractual submission and power imbalance that results from ‘Systemic sexism’ occurs as a result of the “Sexual Contract” in addition to the social contract . According to her, women are the subjects of the original contract, which inturn serves as a tool to exert patriarchial rights over a woman’s body, labour and social actions. It helps us to re-imagine the modern social and gender relationships from the lens of ‘freedom’ and ‘contract’.
In the landmark judgement of X Vs Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department , Government of NCT of Delhi and another (2023) , where the Supreme court adopted purposive interpretation, the unquestionable bodily autonomy of women was recognized under the ambit of Article 21 of Indian Constitution. The indisputable right of a woman to make autonomous decisions about her own body and reproductive functions is of supreme importance.
Further analysing the lives of the women in Beed from a global outlook, it must be underlined that the ‘right to health’ and bodily autonomy that they are denied of, is an integral element of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which emphasize on the right of self- determination. ICESCR also guarentees the right to seek and receive timely information on health care and curbs intentional misinterpretation of such information for any gains. Moreover the concept of Human Rights in Patient Care (HRPC) recognizes the rights of patients to be free from torture, coercion and discrimination in healthcare settings.
The Ethics of Exploitation: Women’s Worth in the Trolley Dilemmas of Development
By now, it’s evident that , though we’re having the honour of being the second largest sugar producer in the world, it unfurls endless sagas of sheer violation of the basic rights of women, rooted in moral universalism. Also their stories resonate with the principles of Kant’s moral philosophy, which advocates to consider individuals as ends in themselves. For the marginalised and oppressed sections of all societies, just like the women in Beed, the lofty ideals of innate worth of human beings, remain confined to the realm of theory , with no chance of tangible action. Beed stands just as another archetype of systemic injustice and oppression. The life of women in Beed also validates that, such exploitations when viewed under an intersectional lens yield better insights than considering them in isolation.
Should one save 5 people in danger of being hit by a trolley , by diverting it to kill just one person?
Just like the “trolley problem” on which the philosophers of utilitarian ethics and deontological ethics debated on for ages ,‘how long should these women workers are supposed to suffer, so as to prevent the capitalists and the privileged from being hit by the trolley of fairness?
References
- Breman, J. (2019). Capitalism, Inequality and Labour in India. Oxford University Press.
- Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167.
- Durkheim, E. (1982). The Rules of Sociological Method (S. Lukes, Ed.; W. D. Halls, Trans.). Free Press. (Original work published 1895)
- Kant, I. (1993). Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals (J. W. Ellington, Trans.). Hackett Publishing. (Original work published 1785)
- Maharashtra Health Department. (2019). Report on Unauthorised Hysterectomies in Beed District. Government of Maharashtra.
- Pateman, C. (1988). The Sexual Contract. Stanford University Press.
- Shantha, S. (2017). The story of Pombilai Orumai. The Wire.
- Supreme Court of India. (2018). Navtej Singh Johar and others v. Union of India. AIR 2018 SC 4321.
- Wollstonecraft, M. (1992). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (2nd ed.). Penguin Classics. (Original work published 1792)
- Supreme Court judgment: (X v. Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of NCT of Delhi & Anr., 2023)
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR): (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966)
- Human Rights in Patient Care (HRPC): (Open Society Foundations, 2012)
