In Beed, Maharashtra, countless female sugarcane farm workers are being forced into dangerous and exploitative medical procedures. A 2018 NGO survey revealed that 36% of women in Beed had undergone a hysterectomy, compared to a national average of just 3%. In many villages, nearly one woman per household had her uterus removed, with the procedure being carried out for a variety of reasons. These surgeries are rarely by choice: women often seek help for treatable issues such as infections or irregular periods but are misleadingly told by doctors that their uterus is supposedly ‘damaged’ or that they might ‘catch cancer’ without surgery. A government committee later confirmed that over 13,500 hysterectomies had been performed from a survey of 80,000 women, and warned that the true number could be much higher. Women such as Bhanubai Madhulkar Shinde and Shailaja Gandhle were deceived into having their uteruses removed to meet the demands of Maharashtra’s massive sugar industry. Contractors and doctors exploit them to ensure uninterrupted labor, since menstruation or pregnancy could reduce productivity. Activists such as Trupti Malti and Usha Balasaheb Awhad are exposing how this exploitation is deepened by the combined effects of capitalism and climate change. Rising temperatures and droughts worsen working conditions, pushing women’s bodies beyond their limits. In the pursuit of profit and productivity, their health, dignity and autonomy are compromised, revealing the deep intertwining of gender, labor and climate injustice in India’s sugarcane fields.
