Share of Farm Women in Agricultural Operations
| Activity involvement |
Percentage |
| Land Preparation |
32 |
| Seed cleaning |
80 |
| Inter cultivation activities |
86 |
| Harvesting, reaping, winnowing, drying, cleaning and storage |
84 |
More Work, Less Pay:
The estimates for changes in the last 5-7 years show declines in employment ranging from 20 per
cent to as much as 77 per cent. Employment in agriculture is thus available for fewer days per year. It is therefore becoming essential for men to migrate in search of better-paid work. Women are filling this vacuum. Women are forced to accept work in agriculture in their own village under very bad conditions because they cannot migrate as easily as men. The dependence of women‟s labour on family farms, especially during the peak periods of sowing and harvesting has become very common. About 15 years ago, agricultural work was considered acceptable for poor tribal women, Muslim women today even, who were traditionally bound by rules of purdah, go out to work for wages in the fields in certain areas. The Ministry of labour puts the difference at 60 per cent of men‟s wages, while the Indian Labour journal showed that women received 75 per cent of men earnings. |
