Write An Essay On Gender And Agriculture

Gender and agriculture

Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for Indian rural masses, including women who are extensively involved in the agricultural activities. Three-fourths of all women workers are in agriculture. A majority of women’s work involves land preparation, selection and seedling production, production of major grains and millets, applying manure seed, sowing, transplanting, weeding, winnowing, threshing and harvesting. Women work on family farms and as paid agricultural labourers on the fields of other farmers. The majority of workers involved in collection of non-timber forest produce (NTFP) are women, particularly tribal women. Women are also responsible for collecting and dispensing family resources such as collection of fuel, fodder, and water for family members and domestic animals (Planning Commission, 2007).

Including paid and unpaid labour, women’s work hours sum up to around 16 hours per day; inevitably, these women have almost zero leisure time. Women have to bear full responsibility for household chores, many of which might include tasks involving income

Firstly, of those rural women who were classified as workers, a greater proportion worked in agriculture when compared with men, as comparatively fewer women workers were in the non-farm sector; and secondly, women’s share in the total number of agricultural workers is increasing overtime leading to their increased involvement in agriculture. As men migrate to urban areas and to non-farm sectors in response to both the distress in agriculture and better job opportunities elsewhere, women’s responsibility both as workers and as farm managers has been growing, leading to an increased feminization of agriculture. One emerging issue of major concern is the issue of girl child labour. Most of the girl labourers belong to the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households, poor backward castes and other such