Visible Work, Invisible Women: Women & Work in Rural India

An exhibition of photographs by award-winning journalist P. Sainath. These photographs from ten states across India — chiefly Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkand, and Tamil Nadu from 1993 to 2001. The exhibit, (accompanied by a narrative) focus on the labor performed by poor women under back-breaking conditions in the paddy fields, brick kilns, quarries and forests. Their labor is worth billions of dollars each year, yet, conventional economists fail to acknowledge and capture their contributions. The exhibit is sponsored by the women in the photographs who gave freely of their time and labor and is hosted by the Association for India's Development - Boston Chapter.  This exhibit has been viewed internationally by over 350,000 people.

Reviews: "Gender bias, exploitation, violation of minimum wages stipulations, outdated laws, Sainath brought all these out — through pictures, but more with words and numbers. The most engaging photograph and bewitching visual was that of three innocent young girls carrying a bucket trekking through the fields in Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh) hunting for pests." The Hindu, India's National Newspaper

"The pictures, shot in the poorest regions of ten states across the country by journalist P. Sainath, show the astonishing labour that poor women put in every day of  their lives and the gigantic - yet unacknowledged - contribution they make to the national economy. Each often panels deals with different kinds of work that women do. The text details the scope, significance and centrality of that labour to the Indian economy, particularly to agriculture. There are no clichéd hand-to-mouth, begging bowl photographs in this exhibition. Instead, these are pictures of enormous strength and dignity. Far more representative of the overwhelming majority of the poor, seeking employment and opportunity rather than pity or charity, these are pictures placing women's labour at the centre of the rural Indian family's survival strategies." Irhish Aid Conference, National University of Ireland, Galway, Dept. of Foreign Affairs