AN STUDY ON ROLE OF WOMEN IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE (original) (raw)
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Constraints and opportunities for women in agriculture in India
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Woman plays a vital role in agricultural sector, as it is largely a household enterprise. They are the active participant in farm activities and processing farm products, in addition to their domestic and reproductive responsibilities. Women as farmers, agricultural labourer and entrepreneurs, constitute the backbone of India's agricultural and rural economy. But still their contributions are ignored since ages. Approximately Seventy percent of world poor are women and the major problems they face are peculiar social, cultural, educational, political and allied problems. Access to land, water, credit and other agricultural inputs, technology, new practices and extension services, education are the major constraints faced by rural women. Providing due recognition to women’s work as well as access to education, extension services, information, land, credit facilities, resources, modern technologies and other relevant agricultural innovations will entice many women to agricultural ...
Women and Agriculture in India
Despite India's remarkable economic growth over the past two decades the progress in achieving gender equality and women's empowerment has been unsatisfactory so far. The ratio of females to males in 2011 for the age group 0-6 is 914 to 1000 which is the lowest since 1947. The literacy rate among females ages 6 and above has certainly increased from 65 percent in 2001 to 74 percent in 2011, but it is still 15 points less than for men. Gender inequalities are reflected in the country's human development ranking; India ranks 113 of 157 countries in the Gender-related Development Index. More than 90 per cent of women continue to struggle in the informal/unorganised sector with no legislative safeguards. The prevailing social constraints of patriarchy largely relegates women to the inside sphere. Added to this are the dual responsibilities of women tagged with heavy work responsibilities in agriculture, animal husbandry and other traditional sectors which create a syndrome of gender stereotypes, marginalisation, alienation and deprivation of women in the informal sector. Even when their hard work produces surplus they do not generally control its disposal, which has traditionally been and continues to be in men's domain.
Asian Journal of Home Science, 2012
India is a developing and predominately agrarian economy. 70% of its population is rural, of those households, 60% engage in agriculture as their main source of income. Agriculture is an engine of growth and poverty reduction in developing countries where it is the main occupation of poor. Many women, in developing countries, are major producers of food. Nearly 63% of all economically active men are engaged in agriculture as compared to 78% of women. It is observed that women play a significant role in agricultural development and allied activities including main crop production, live-stock production, horticulture, post-harvesting operations etc. About 70% of farm work is performed by women. Women farmers do not have equal access to productive resources and this significantly limits their potential in enhancing productivity. The present paper shows that the contribution of women in agriculture is extremely significant. It also throws light on the obstacles faced by them in terms of...
WOMENS’ CONTRIBUTION IN AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED ACTIVITIES
IAEME PUBLICATION, 2020
India is a mounting and predominately agrarian economy. 70% of its population is rural, of those households, 60% engage in agriculture as their main source of income. Agriculture is an engine of growth and poverty reduction in developing countries where it is the main occupation of poor. Many women, in developing countries, are major producers of food. Nearly 63% of all economically active men are engaged in agriculture as compared to 78% of women. It is observed that women play a significant role in agricultural development and allied activities including main crop production, live-stock production, horticulture, post-harvesting operations etc. About 70% of farm work is performed by women. Women farmers do not have equal access to productive resources and this significantly limits their potential in enhancing productivity. The present paper shows that the contribution of women in agriculture is extremely significant. It also throws light on the obstacles faced by them in terms of less access to productive resources which do not recognized her work as active productive member.
In India, there are distinct male and female roles in the rural economy. Women and girls engage in a number of agro-oriented activities ranging from seedbed preparation, weeding, and horticulture and fruit cultivation to a series of post-harvest crop processing activities like cleaning and drying vegetable, fruits and nuts for domestic use and for market. A disproportionate number of those dependent on land are women: 58% of all male workers and 78% of all female workers, and 86% of all rural female workers are in agriculture. Female headed households range from 20% to 35% of rural households (widows, deserted women as well as women who manage farming when their men migrate). Although the time devoted by both women and men in agricultural activities may, in several communities and agricultural situations, be taken to be almost equal, women are dominant within the domestic tasks. Rural Indian women are extensively involved in agricultural activities, but the nature and extent of their involvement differs with variations in agro-production systems. This paper reaffirms that women make essential contributions to agriculture and rural enterprises. But there is much diversity in women's roles and over-generalization undermines policy relevance and planning. The context is important and policies must be based on sound data and gender analysis.
Women in Agriculture in India – Status and Agenda
Just to set a context, please refer to the these two specific Sustainable Development Goals : (SDG 2.3)-By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment (SDG 5a.)-Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws. India has also agreed to achieve these global goals, but have we really examined the case of crisis, the case of women in agriculture in India! In our school days, each one of us must have been asked to write as essay on the subject My Country India or Our Country. Such an essay was a sort of a religious performance. And as far as I remember, and so I claim that its starting line too was a ritual one: India, my country is an agrarian country. Even today this much repeated line is holding its prime position. But today, it is in tatters. Despite the fact that out of a working population of 48.17 crore Indians, 26.30 crore Indians are directly dependent on agriculture to eke out their livelihood (Census, 2011), our development-centric policy proclaims its main objective is to take these working hands out of the farming. The rationale is that the field of agriculture is already overloaded, and hence people should look elsewhere for opportunities for their livelihoods. This rationale hides five important facts viz. 1. If people start deserting their farming lands, private companies / corporate houses will get their decisive foot and say in, 2. If the farming community leaves its productive enterprise, it will have to depend on the forces of market for its basic food security needs, where it will be devoid of any legitimate state protection for itself and will be left in lurch against the vagaries of contractual existence, 3. Agriculture is a larger sym-biotic system of all things natural, that is: forest, cattle stock, water sources, plains, mountains, hills etc. If the society itself is taken off from cultivation, the natural resources like minerals etc. will be left open for an easy exploitation by greedy industrialization, 4. This division of organized-unorganized sectors is not a natural phenomenon rather a synthetic one, carved out by an ‗ill-fare' state intending to expand its jurisdiction by usurping the natural space of agriculture-natural resources-social enterprise. Such an illegitimate control forcibly renders the organically most-organized sector of the society, unorganized. And on the other hand, the ubiquitously powerful lobby of corporate and business interest pounces upon to claim the ‗vacuum' created by such a sinister design, and gains the legitimacy of being an organized sector, 5. And finally when the legitimate questions of the employment, livelihood guarantee
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON WOMEN RELATED ISSUES IN AGRICULTURE SREE KRISHNA BHARADWAJ H
Rural Women form the most important productive work force in the economy of majority of the developing nations including India. Yet they are the most ignored and neglected section of the society especially farming sector. This paper analyses the role and importance of women in agriculture and also the issues related to women are highlighted.
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Approach and Studies Role of Women in Agriculture
Women are the backbone of the development of rural and national economies. They comprise 43% of the world's agricultural labor force, which rises to 70% in some countries. In Africa, 80% of the agricultural production comes from small farmers, who are mostly rural women. The international development community has recognized that agriculture is an engine of growth and poverty reduction in countries where it is the main occupation of the poor. Women make essential contributions to the agricultural and rural economies in all developing c0untries. Their roles vary considerably between and within regions and are changing rapidly in many parts of the world, where economic and social forces are transforming the agricultural sector. Rural women often manage complex households and pursue multiple livelihood strategies. This paper contributes to the gender debate in agriculture by assessing the empirical evidence in three areas that has received much attention in the literature: But the ...
Trends and Patterns of Women Workforce Participation in Agriculture in India
Journal of Rural and Industrial Development, 2021
The agricultural sector plays a strategic role in the process of economic development of a country. Today, this sector as a whole has developed and expanded immensely with the growth of science and technology, and there is a growing realisation and commitment among the global community that the agriculture sector has to undergo changes for a sustainable and broadbased expansion, after addressing gender-related issues through the initiation and partnerships of various national, regional, and global institutions. In developing countries like India, agriculture continues to absorb and employ the female workforce, but fails to recognise their role and importance as an employed labour force. In developing countries, women participation in the agricultural labour force is 38%. However, a large number of women have been treated as an insignificant part of the active agricultural labour force; there is also a growing gap between women's actual economic participation and public perception about their economic participation. At this juncture, there is a growing need for the agricultural research agenda to overcome the existing gaps and to tackle the emerging problems of sustainable development and livelihood of resource-poor women farmers. Several researchers have attempted to overcome this gap through empirical research studies on gender analysis and gender roles. The present study is an attempt to highlight the trend of female workforce participation in the agricultural sector across various Indian states. The secondary data is used to analyse the growth trend of the agricultural workers over the last decade. Suitable solutions have to be delivered to women farmers for raising their productivity, through which their overall empowerment may be targeted. Other practical solutions should also be taken up to help and support women farmers.