One thousand words

Figure. The belated grains of sustenance. This photograph, taken by first-year McMaster University medical student Sayali Tadwalkar during an 8-week clinical elective, was among the entries exhibited at McMaster's International Women's and Children's Health Symposium last fall. CMAJ has selected 3 for publication; the first appeared in our Dec. 6, 2005, issue (CMAJ 2005;173:1514). This photograph captures the repetitiveness, hardship and social bonds of manual farm labour, and leaves us pondering the health consequences of these women's working conditions. The photographer writes: “In the district of Gadchiroli, India, farming is the main profession of the people, and rice is the primary agricultural product. Regardless of pouring rain or scorching sun, the women of the nearby villages spend entire days manually planting rice seedlings in the hope that the crop will be productive. The women in this picture are wearing protection on their heads from the rain overhead, while their feet are submerged for hours under water as they work to finish planting all the bundles that are seen in the background into orderly rows. Depending on the whims of Mother Nature, their labour will not bear fruit until several months later.” Photo by: Sayali Tadwalkar