Women in agriculture

Women constitute approximately 70% of the agricultural labour force and perform more than 70% of farm labour in less industrialised Asia. In India, women constitute approximately 50% of agricultural and livestock workers. A general pattern in India and throughout Asia is that the poorer the area, the higher women's contribution, largely as subsistence farmers who work small pieces of land of less than 0.2 hectares.

While the rate of feminisation of agricultural labour differs across regions, it reflects common circumstances — the increased employment of women on a casual basis in small unregulated workplaces — and the common causes of distress emigration of men for better paid work in agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. These factors are often combined with the relegation of less profitable crop production to women.

Indigenous communities are not immune to this feminisation agricultural work process. As is seen worldwide, these women are the chief producers in the jhum fields and the home gardens, bearing the responsibility for choosing planting seeds and locations, weeding, fertilising, processing of the produce, and so on. It is the reliance of adivasi and indigenous women on natural resources and agriculture that make them exceedingly vulnerable to climate change, especially as they often live among the world's most poor with limited access to resources.

In Nepal, for example, large-scale emigration of men has left women as de facto farm managers. Yet effective management by women is constrained by women's inability to secure credit when they need it, if at all they get it, since most land titles remain in the men's names and men's signatures are required before credit can be provided. This leads to significant delays in procurement of credit and agricultural inputs.

There is a disparity in wages based on gender which must be repaired. One solution is for minimum support prices to be fixed for the plantation sector (such as tea, coffee, rubber, arecanut and cardamom) in which a large number of women are directly and actively involved. Empowering women farmers with land holdings rights and joint bank accounts with their husbands will go a long way towards achieving gender equity in Indian agriculture. Therefore, effective land rights for women - not just in law, but in practice - is the crux of the matter.

All-India average daily wage rates in agricultural occupations (rupees) - 2007-08
	Ploughing			Sowing			Weeding
	Men	Women	Children	Men	Women	Children	Men	Women	Children
2007 Jul	86.72	52.14		74.80	53.57	41.77	68.45	55.82	40.06
2007 Aug	86.96	46.88		75.10	55.00	43.91	67.53	55.32	41.25
2007 Sep	88.43	46.43		76.26	56.18	45.25	66.82	55.14	41.46
2007 Oct	89.68	48.13		77.74	56.53	45.01	68.69	56.35	43.24
2007 Nov	89.46	46.50		77.54	55.79	44.00	68.71	57.04	42.15
2007 Dec	89.84	47.14		77.79	56.13	43.91	69.23	57.56	42.28
2008 Jan	92.56	46.00		79.60	58.26	48.80	70.30	58.67	43.01
2008 Feb	92.62	64.38		79.64	58.45	44.44	71.21	59.61	43.91
2008 Mar	94.72	52.00		81.92	59.04	44.44	70.95	59.35	42.23
2008 Apr	95.16			82.86	59.17	45.00	72.00	60.05	41.67
2008 May	94.91	50.00		84.06	59.46	45.56	72.49	61.80	43.00
2008 Jun	95.47			84.03	58.54	44.50	74.41	62.49	43.89
	Transplanting			Harvesting			Winnowing
	Men	Women	Children	Men	Women	Children	Men	Women	Children
2007 Jul	71.78	58.96	44.00	73.27	60.62	38.44	68.88	53.70
2007 Aug	71.38	58.63	44.71	73.66	61.83	39.60	69.93	54.89
2007 Sep	71.96	59.95	46.24	75.08	61.98	40.18	71.46	54.79
2007 Oct	73.12	61.41	44.67	74.45	61.12	41.48	70.30	54.30
2007 Nov	72.59	61.31	45.14	73.37	60.83	41.40	68.38	55.13	38.53
2007 Dec	72.96	61.63	45.14	74.21	60.73	43.14	69.75	55.15
2008 Jan	74.76	62.85	46.19	74.78	61.87	44.02	71.34	56.70	43.45
2008 Feb	74.10	63.05	45.79	74.19	61.36	44.10	71.74	57.22	40.53
2008 Mar	74.97	63.31	45.79	75.13	62.94	45.11	71.99	57.22	40.53
2008 Apr	75.67	63.74	45.79	76.95	63.82	44.54	72.12	57.83	39.53
2008 May	75.51	63.95	46.67	78.23	64.50	43.83	73.03	58.39	40.45
2008 Jun	76.71	64.38	48.24	79.58	66.11	44.68	73.76	57.80	42.53
	Threshing			Picking			Herding livestock
	Men	Women	Children	Men	Women	Children	Men	Women	Children
2007 Jul	72.40	61.27		70.26	57.95	40.02	46.07	36.89	30.55
2007 Aug	72.21	61.14		72.01	57.63	36.68	46.41	36.92	30.62
2007 Sep	72.94	60.38	40.53	71.07	56.98	38.56	46.57	36.50	30.80
2007 Oct	73.47	58.00	38.78	74.57	57.37	39.77	46.88	37.46	30.45
2007 Nov	72.91	58.32	38.07	74.88	57.14	40.82	47.47	37.46	30.81
2007 Dec	71.96	58.45	38.24	71.55	56.16	41.24	47.30	37.39	30.75
2008 Jan	72.56	58.15	41.10	69.40	57.17	46.74	48.07	37.53	31.32
2008 Feb	73.32	58.08	39.08	70.75	56.51	42.40	48.26	38.06	31.47
2008 Mar	72.77	57.62	41.27	72.88	59.97	45.27	48.53	38.23	32.05
2008 Apr	74.44	58.34	40.27	72.20	60.19	43.20	48.49	38.78	32.16
2008 May	75.33	61.06	41.96	74.59	60.07	38.16	48.29	38.81	32.36
2008 Jun	77.66	62.13	42.53	75.29	60.65	37.89	49.38	39.29	33.45
Source: 'Wage Rates in Rural India 2007-08, Ministry of Labour, Government of India