Indian agriculture is suffering from a number of crisis such as declination of plot size, inflation of food price, relative increase of cost of production to farm incomes, farmer suicides
etc. (Mishra 2006; Dev 2012; Eapen and Nair 2015;
Pritchard et al., 2014). These agarian crisis had forced rural men to seek livelihood opportunity outside agriculture and migrate to urban areas in search for works, leaving women for agricultural works (
Tumbe 2014;
Agrawal and Chandrasekhar 2015). Increasing participation of rural women in agriculture make us keen to search for an answer to some questions like how they are managing both agricultural and household activities side by side and how the power and autonomy in household and community of women is affected by participation (
Shah and Pattnaik 2015). Feminization is known for changing property relation including increase in ownership among women. Besides it is evident that feminization provide women the ability to control its own labour, impart authority to make decisions and put a light on women’s activities, needs and aspirations for policy measures (
Agarwal 2012;
Deere 2005;
Lastarria 2006).
However, we cannot say that there is a positive correlation between feminization and empowerment, especially in case of paid employment. In this case growing number of women employee comes with insubstantial andmenial paid employment, which is not a all empowerment (
Kelkar and Wang 2007). Besides there are diversified causes and consequences of feminization. Increase in number of female participants may be due to decrease in number of males’ participation (
Deere 2005) or it may reflect activity which is important to women and change forced to them (
Lahiri-Dutt 2014). It should be considered that women move from unremunerated occupationssuch as unpaid family labour, although in public sphere their visibility is prominent, but in private sphere it is still less reflective.
Due this complexity literature related to this issue was collected from various sources to understand the present scenario of female work force, determinants of their participation in work force, their role in livestock which is a female dominated sector, constraints and policy measures for feminization in India.
Past studies related to feminization
Some of the literature in the past mainly focused to the increase in the share of farm-related work performed by women such as increase of importance of smallholder production as well as non-traditional agro-export production (
Lahiri-Dutt, 2014). While some were focused onfarmland ownershipand other resources (
Agarwal 2012), decision making power (
Lastarria 2006) and recognitionof various contributions by women in the public sphere, previously dominated by male counterpart (
Deere 2005).
Numerous studies have been done to establish a relationship between agriculture and suicide and their impact on family but the available studies do not provide a definitive answer about the relationship of location of residence and suicide, but there do appear to be higher suicide rates in rural versus urban areas both in India and in other countries with large agricultural populations (
GOI 2007). If true, the likely explanations for the higher suicide rates in rural areas would include rapid migration, economic hardship, lack of social support, isolation, relatively easy access to lethal means (
e.g., pesticides) and the lack of high-quality resuscitation services (Wage Indicator Report). The lack of performance however in terms of agricultural success can be said to be the most dominating of all.
Few studies supported the facts that feminization is the result of distress migration and loss making crop production (
Kanchi, 2010;
Kelkar and Wang, 2007;
Srivastave, 2011), while
Rawal and Saha (2015) supported economic liberalization for increase in women participation in work force. Some region specific studies like the study of
Hardikar (2015) found that migration of men in small and marginal groups in Madhya Pradesh pressurized women and obligated some women cultivators to make their farms abandoned. A study on Uttarakhand by
Bhandari and Reddy (2015) compared the condition of out-migrant and non-migrant household and observed that there was little or no capital formation on farms of migrant households. Compare to non-migrant one the work burden (marketing, utility bills payment, meeting family requirements) of women from migrant household was higher. Besides a huge number of children from migrant household was dropping-out, which showed another negative impact of feminization. Women often end up being invisible in spaces of policy-making and not just in terms of participation.
Present scenario of feminization in agriculture
Sharp increase in non-agricultural activities from 1991 to 2001 was due to the impact of economic liberalization (Table 1). Male participation in non-agricultural activities increased from 39.1 per cent in 1991 to 50.1 per cent in 2011, while female participation doubled from 17.6 per cent to 34 per cent during the same period of time. It means that while half of the male work force is engaged with non-farm activities still 65 per cent of woman dependent on agriculture. As males became more engaged in non-agricultural activities after liberalization
There is a noticeable variation in dependency of agricultural employment across different states (Table 2). Women’s participation in agriculture similarly varied across regions and states. Except Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland, men participate more in agriculture than women. It was apparentthat, in those states where workers engaged in agriculture were above national average, the differences were lowest in case of participation between men and women workers. Utter Pradesh and Bihar were exception in this trend, here although share of agricultural workers was high, the difference was much wider than other states.
Traditional obstacles like mobility, education and the inability to interact with the market still exist. However, a few women farmer groups are breaking the mould. Growing millets is a symbol of moving away from the clutches of patriarchy in farming. “Being the least input demanding crops, millets run against the ‘high input = high output’ market logic. Therefore, it leaves an anti-corporate economics. These values of millets bring them closest to the ecofeminist philosophy,” said a statement from All India Millet Sisters Network. The network was launched in November 2016 and received the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar, 2017’ for outstanding contribution to women’s empowerment. The award was presented by the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi on the International Women’s Day on 8 March
(Saxena 2019). The Women’s Collective in Tamil Nadu, also part of the All India Millet Sisters Network, tries promoting millets amongst women farmers, as they can keep some of their produce for their homes, giving food security to the entire family. “The challenge, however, is that most women are landless and do not have a say in what can be grown in the lands they are working on,” said Sheelu Francis from the collective. “We organise them into collectives and encourage leasing lands in groups of five to ten for them to grow millets. Millets are also hardy and resistant to the vagaries of climate change,” she added. Her collective works with nearly 12,000 women farmers in dryland regions of Tamil Nadu. The All India Millet Sisters Network is an initiative of the Deccan Development Society and has more than 20 NGOs working across ten states. CN Suresh, one of the coordinating members of its parent network, Millet Network of India, believes the knowledge of women in farming, especially in dryland regions is unparalleled (
Whatmore 1991). “In some villages in Telangana, crops are categorised as ‘male’ crops and ‘female’ crops. Male crops are commercial crops like cotton and sugar while female crops are millets,” he said. “While the men grow only commercial crops, they sell and the money does not leave their hands. Whereas women growing millets keep some for their house and then sell the rest. By growing millets, women are retaining decision-making powers,” he said. Women, in most cases, have a bigger role in agriculture than men - at least in small and marginal farmlands. “Some 85 per cent of all farmlands in the country are small and marginal. And in these lands, it is the woman who has a larger role in farming. In most cases, men only take care of plowing, cutting and selling,” said a member of Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (Makaam) or Forum for Women Farmers’ Rights Sejal Dand. “Recognising the role of women is the best way to revive agriculture and ecology, especially in the era of direct benefit transfers. It gives her social security,” she added. The forum has members across 24 states working towards securing due recognition and rights of women farmers in India.
Role of women in fodder and livestock management
Illiterate rural dairy women farmers were the main architect behind pushing India to first place in milk production and also for ever increasing per capita milk availability (
Patel, 1998). Participation of women in fodder and livestock management was studied in few villages of Karnataka (Table 3). It was observed that majority of women were involved in almost all the livestock activities
viz. animal feeding (78%), collection of fodder (84%), cattle shed maintenance (80%), making of cow dung for fuel (88%) milking (70%), marketing of milk and milk products (76%).
Determinants of women’s participation in agriculture and non-agriculture activities
Poverty, income per capita, land holding and share of land utilized for food grain were some of the factors which were determining the women’s participation (Table 4). The study found that there was an inverse relationship between size of land holdings and involvement of women in agriculture and a positive relationship between land holding size and women participation in non-farm activities. There was a non-linear relationship between poverty ratio and women’s participation, which was depicted through square terms. It showed women work participation declines at high level of poverty. There was no significant relationship between women’s participationin agriculture and per capita income but there was a positive association between incomes per capita and women workers engaged in non-agricultural activities. Findings also suggest as more land came under foodgrain, lower the likelihood women would participate in non-farm activities. Finally there was no significant relationships between women’s share of landholdings and their participation in agricultural and non-agricultural activities. This suggested that women’s ownership of land do not necessarily influence their overall levels of participation in agriculture. Poverty levels and the overall size of land holdings appear to be the major determining factors, with women withdrawing from agriculture in favour of involvement in non-agricultural activities as household income increases.
Major constraints
i. Gender discrimination
Rural women are much more over burdened with work, involving 15-16 hours a day with labour intensive, monotonous, drudgery prone activities.
ii. Development Bias and lack of technology refinement for women
Due to biasness of development planner the women are considered as consumer of social services rather than producers, kept them away from various development programmes. Although various technology had been developed but those are not ergonomics for women.
iii. Gender bias
Although women bear sole responsibility for family welfare and household management but their effort remain in shadow. There is a huge discrimination against women in wage payment due to inadequate access to information about rights, opportunities and support programmes
etc. Women role in land and livestock management get little recognition by the government as a result they remain deprived from agricultural policies, schemes, formal support system like credit, extension services, insurance and marketing services.
iv. Limited access to resource
Due to limited access to resources, women are unable to meet collateral requirement to get loan from financial institution.
v. Inadequate access to markets
Women engaged in agriculture, forestry and fishery tend to produce small quantities and have poor access to organized marketing and cooperatives. Therefore, women sell mainly to private traders and have low bargaining power.
Policy and programmes
i. The direct benefit transfer
Improving access to land by introducing ‘joint pattas’ for both cultivable and homestead land; creating multiple livelihood opportunities through crop-livestock farming systems. agro-processing
etc. and provide timely credit through Kisan Credit Card are some of the measure taken by the government to provide environment for women to contribute their best ability and improve their income.
ii. Mainstreaming gender concerns
A gender based concern is necessary
. Introducing ‘pro-women initiatives’ to help women derive the benefits of all beneficiary-oriented components of different programs/schemes and missions, focusing on formation of women Self Help Groups (SHGs) and reserving 30 per cent of funds for women under various major schemes/programs and development interventions are some of the initiative taken by the government related gender mainstreaming.
iii. Budgetary allocations for women in agriculture
The increasing number of women in agriculture sector has not been matched with the increase in budgetary allocation for women farmers. Sufficient allocation should be made for women under each scheme.
iv. Mass media and ICT support
ICT led extension approach will be ground breaking to change the lives of women farmers by improving access to information and sharing knowledge through click of a button.
v. Women and research
Involving women in research work would help the work efficiency of women as technology will be designed keeping their specific issues in mind. This will refine the technology in favour of women and make it more ergonomic.
