Bidi and the Burden of Tobacco Labor: Human Rights and Health Injustices among Women and Children in South Asia

Abstract

Bidi, a hand-rolled tobacco product widely used in South Asia, significantly contributes to tobacco-related diseases and serves as a vector for labor exploitation and systematic human rights violations. This perspective essay explains how the bidi industry employs women and children to create hazardous occupational conditions, reinforces gender and educational inequities, and perpetuates intergenerational cycles of poverty and labor dependency. We highlight neglected global tobacco policy and controls on labor and safety. We advocate for integrating informal bidi labor into existing health and labor protections and call for greater recognition of these production-side injustices within the global tobacco control discourse.