'Women’s work in the unorganized sector: Issues of exploitation and globalization in the beedi industry' by Rekha Pande, Routledge India, 2022, 226 pp., US$144.68 (hardback)

Rekha Pande’s study of the beedi industry in India highlights the exploitation, hazardous working conditions, and health hazards faced by women and children working in this informal sector. Beedi – handmade cigars, prepared using unprocessed tobacco wrapped in tendu-leaf – are rolled by women workers who are chronically underpaid due to a piece-rate payment system. Child labour remains a persistent problem, particularly among girls, and the industry is plagued with exploitation.