ABSTRACT
The beedi industry is placed in the economy’s informal sector, although it operates through both factory and home-based production, forming a unique case. In this chapter, through a case study of the beedi industry in the Bhopal and Sagar districts of Madhya Pradesh, I aim to understand the everyday negotiations of women beedi workers. Interviews with these women workers reflect on their struggles of managing domestic responsibilities alongside the production of beedis at home. Their responses emphasise the negotiations they make regarding their identities as women and as workers as they discuss the decisions about family size and form, economic assets, and community relations, which determine their continuation with beedi work. Falling outside the purview of conventional sites of work, that is, factory floors, the home setting offers new ways of understanding informal work and the significance it may hold for the communities involved. Examining their journey as workers helps us know about the layers of control prevalent with domestic production. A comprehensive understanding of how their everyday lives are designed to accommodate financial and social difficulties offers insights into survival within an informal economy. Their struggles juxtaposed with their experiences to resist the controls of the family and the labour market and their aspirations to be educated and build a better life for themselves and their families further enrich our understanding of their experiences.
