Overtime is compulsory for most but women are paid lower rates than men. Dismal Women within the Boundary do get pregnant, however, and the health outcomes for them and their infants are often dismal. Miscarriages, premature births and deaths among new-born babies may largely be due to maternal anaemia and poor nutritional status, according to health workers. Dr Pratibha Sharma, who has run a clinic for the last 10 years in a shantytown near NEPZ, says the level of exploitation is 'unimaginable'. Respiratory problems, pelvic inflammatory disease and severe cases of dehydration are common.
Anaemia is chronic and severe.
Sharma says miscarriages are very common and believes they are due to forced overtime, coupled with women's double burden of having to do housework as well. Quacks proliferate in EPZ slums, providing abortion for a fee. But horrors lie outside the clinic as well, in the daily lives of women. My daughters have to work as my income alone cannot sustain the family,' she says. Home is a tiny room.