Reproductive Work in the Global South: Lived Experiences and Social Relations of Commercial Surrogacy in India
Madhusree Jana and
Anita Hammer
Additional contact information
Madhusree Jana: Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
Anita Hammer: University of Essex, UK
Work, Employment & Society, 2022, vol. 36, issue 5, 945-966
Abstract:
This article investigates reproductive work in the Global South which thrives on the commodification of women’s reproductive bodies under local-global reproductive hierarchies, appropriating the process of reproduction for production. Through a qualitative study of commercial surrogacy in north India, it examines the lived experiences of surrogates within the capitalist social relations they are embedded in. Conceptualising surrogacy as reproductive labour which contributes to value generation, the article assesses labour relations at the workplace, for example hostels where surrogates ‘live and work’, and the mechanisms of recruitment, contracting and control which function through dense networks of social and material relations between various stakeholders. The weak bargaining power of surrogates and the immense power of fertility clinics and agents are compounded by the lack of effective regulation and the state’s prohibitionist policy. The article argues for protecting the rights of surrogates as workers rather than the recent ban on surrogacy imposed in India.
Keywords: informal labour; production; social reproduction; value; work (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017021997370 (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:36:y:2022:i:5:p:945-966
DOI: 10.1177/0950017021997370
Access Statistics for this article
More articles in Work, Employment & Society from British Sociological Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().