Context

• The celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8 highlights the achievements and struggles of women across sectors.
• In the same spirit, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) declared the International Year of the Woman Farmer, drawing attention to the vital yet often unrecognized role of women in agriculture.
• In India, women form a backbone, pillar, and essential workforce of the agricultural economy, contributing significantly to crop cultivation, livestock rearing, and agricultural labour.
• Despite this central role, women farmers remain undercounted, underpaid, and economically marginalized.

The Challenge of Counting Women Workers

• Accurate measurement of women’s participation in agriculture remains difficult due to the informal nature of rural economies.
• Much of women’s labour is home-based, seasonal, intermittent, and closely linked with care work, making it difficult for surveys to capture their actual contribution.
• Many women perform multiple tasks such as childcare, animal care, and farm work within a single day, which often leads to their labour being unreported.
• Nevertheless, available data indicates a rise in rural women’s workforce participation. Among rural women aged 15 and above, participation increased from 35% in 2011–12 to 46.5% in 2023–24.

The Scale of Women’s Participation in Agriculture

• Crop Production
  • Women play a critical role in crop production. Field studies conducted by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies show that women contribute a substantial share of labour in farming activities.
  • In several villages across Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, women accounted for about one-third of family labour in crop cultivation.
  • When both family and hired labour are combined, women’s contribution becomes even more prominent.
  • In some villages, women represented more than half of the total agricultural labour, reaching up to 61% in certain regions.
  • These patterns illustrate the dependence of farming systems on women’s labour and their active involvement in sowing, transplanting, weeding, and other farm operations.
• Livestock Rearing
  • The livestock sector is one of the fastest-growing segments of agriculture and relies heavily on women’s labour.
  • Activities such as feeding animals, collecting fodder, cleaning sheds, and milking are largely performed by women within rural households.
  • Households that own milch cattle almost always involve women in daily livestock care.
  • With nearly 40 million rural households owning milch animals, millions of women spend several hours each day performing livestock-related tasks.
  • Despite their continuous labour, women rarely receive direct financial recognition or economic compensation for these contributions.
• Agricultural Wage Labour
  • Women also participate as casual wage labourers in agricultural operations.
  • However, mechanisation and changes in agricultural practices have reduced the overall demand for manual labour, particularly affecting women workers.
  • The share of women in casual agricultural labour varies across regions but remains substantial in many villages.
  • Women workers often come from manual labour households or small peasant families, where agricultural wage work is essential for household survival and livelihood security.

Persistent Challenges Faced by Women Workers

• Inequality in Wages and Earnings
  • Despite their extensive participation, women agricultural workers receive low wages, limited earnings, and face a significant gender wage gap.
  • In many rural regions, women earn less than ₹300 per day for agricultural work.
  • In some areas, women’s wages are less than half of men’s wages, demonstrating strong wage inequality.
  • National statistics reveal a similar pattern: the average daily wage for women in agricultural tasks such as sowing and weeding is approximately ₹384, with variations across states.
  • Even where wages are higher, inflation-adjusted earnings have shown little improvement over the past decade.
• Structural Inequality and Lack of Asset Ownership
  • A major structural barrier is the limited ownership of productive assets, especially agricultural land.
  • Although women constitute nearly half of the agricultural workforce, only about 10% of rural women own land.
  • Without land ownership, women face restrictions in accessing institutional credit, government schemes, agricultural subsidies, and decision-making power within farming households.
  • This lack of ownership reinforces patterns of economic dependency and gender inequality. 

Conclusion

• Women sustain India’s agricultural economy through their extensive involvement in crop farming, livestock management, and rural labour markets.
• Their work supports food production, household livelihoods, and the broader rural economy. Yet their contributions remain largely invisible, undervalued, and poorly compensated.
• Addressing these inequalities requires improved data collection, recognition of women as farmers and workers, expansion of fair wages, and greater access to land ownership and economic rights.
• Strengthening these measures is essential for achieving inclusive rural development, ensuring gender equity, and acknowledging the vital role women play in sustaining India’s agricultural system.