Menstrual Activism: Workplace Pressures Leading to Forced Hysterectomies Among Women in India

Abstract

Menstruation is a taboo in India. A women bleeding is considered weak, unfit to work and mentally trained to restrain from temple duties. This paper creates a critical intersection of workplace policies, menstrual health and gender rights in India. The research tends to argue the absence of formal paid menstrual leave policies which has severe consequences. Where countries like Japan, Spain and Zambia have started implementing menstrual leave policies, we are yet to corner this concept for a discussion. India lacks the wide-eye view to frame a uniform national law on this issue. Legislative lacunae, cultural stigma and hesitation followed by harsh economic pressures, breeds an environment where women especially daily-wage labourers are coerced due to poverty prioritize work over health, money over “womb”. The paper brings the burning reality of Beed district in Maharashtra where women are forced to undergo hysterectomies to avoid absence from work and prevent wage loss. Merely removing uterus is not the end to this evolving problem, it adds to the already critical health of women with short and long-term medical complications. It has become a major human rights issue which requires immediate solution. The research concludes that absence of major protective policies exacerbates the deeply-rooted gender inequality and legislative lethargy to frame strong labour laws. Absence of laws forces women to remain stagnant in this irreversible clock of exploitation, misery and ill health advocating for urgency legislative policy interventions, timely corporate accountability and social transformation to improve and protect women’s health and remunerative dignity.