Feminisation of agriculture

Topic: Employment, Unemployment and Informalisation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Feminisation of agriculture means that women make up a growing share of farm workers, mainly because men leave farming for non-farm jobs in towns. Women do more of the farm work, but most still do not own the land. They also lack credit and are not recognised as "farmers".

It matters because farm policy (loans, insurance, scheme benefits) reaches the person with the land title. So the people who increasingly do the farm work are often the ones left out.

Women's share of the farm workforce = Women farm workers ÷ Total farm workers × 100

Explanation

How it happens

• Men move out of farming.
• Farm incomes are low and uncertain.
• Men migrate to towns for construction, factory or service jobs.

• Women stay back and take over sowing, weeding, harvesting and animal care.

• Women's share can rise even when no new women join. If men leave, the same number of women becomes a bigger share of the total.

• Worked example (made-up numbers):
• A village has 100 farm workers: 60 men and 40 women. Women's share = 40 ÷ 100 × 100 = 40%.
• 20 men migrate to a city. Now there are 40 men and 40 women. Women's share = 40 ÷ 80 × 100 = 50%.

• Not one extra woman started farming, yet farming has become "more feminised".

• Women also enter farm work themselves. Rural female LFPR (Labour Force Participation Rate: the share of women who are working or looking for work) rose from 24.6% to 47.6% between 2017-18 and 2023-24 [1]. Most of this rise came from rural self-employment and unpaid family work (helping on the family farm without a wage).

Work without ownership: the three gaps

• Land gap.
• Women run only 13.78% of operational holdings (farms that a person manages, whether or not they own them) in 2015-16, up from 12.78% in 2010-11, as per the Agriculture Census [4].

• They operate only about 11.72% of the total operated area (2015-16) [4]. So the farms women run are also smaller than average.

• Credit and scheme gap.

• Without a land title in her name → a woman cannot easily get a bank loan such as a Kisan Credit Card → she also misses crop insurance and scheme benefits.

• Recognition gap.

• Much of women's farm work is unpaid family work, so it is not seen as "real" work.
• Surveys and official records call the landholder (usually a man) the "farmer". The woman is treated as a "helper".

Why this is feminisation, not empowerment

• Double burden: women do both farm work and unpaid domestic and care work. When a woman takes on more farm work, her housework does not go away, so her working day just gets longer.
• Low-quality work: the extra work is mostly on small family plots and is often unpaid. It gives women no income of their own.
• Disguised unemployment: many unpaid helpers on small farms may be surplus labour. This means more people work on the farm than it needs, and if some leave, output does not fall.

In India

• Concentration in farming: 64.4% of women workers are in the primary sector (agriculture and allied work), against 36.3% of men (2023-24).
• Rural women drive participation.
• Female LFPR (15+, usual status) rose from 23.3% (2017-18) to 41.7% (2023-24) [1].
• The rise is mostly rural: rural female LFPR went from 24.6% to 47.6%. Urban female LFPR went only from 20.4% to 28.0% [1].

• Women's WPR (Worker Population Ratio: the share of people who are employed), all ages, 2023-24: 34.8% in rural areas and 20.7% in urban areas.

• Who measures it?

• The PLFS (Periodic Labour Force Survey) of the NSSO under MoSPI, launched in April 2017, measures who works and in which sector [1].
• The usual status method matters here. A woman whose main activity is housework, but who works on the farm for 30 days or more in a year (subsidiary status), is counted as a worker [1].
• The Agriculture Census measures who operates farms (female operational holdings) [4].

• The Time Use Survey 2024 (MoSPI) shows the unpaid load women carry alongside farm work. 83.1% of females and 26.4% of males did unpaid domestic services on a normal day [2][3].

• Legal backstop on wages: the Code on Wages, 2019 bars gender discrimination in wages for the same or similar work. It replaced the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976. This matters for women who do casual farm work for wages.

Don't confuse with

• Rise in Female LFPR: this is a rise in the number of women who are working or seeking work. Feminisation of agriculture is about women's share of farm workers, which can rise even when no new women join, simply because men leave.
• Land ownership: an operational holding is a farm a person runs. It need not be land she owns. The 13.78% figure (2015-16) is about operation, not title [4].
• Disguised unemployment: this means extra workers whose removal does not reduce output. Feminisation says who does farm work. Disguised unemployment says whether that work is actually needed.
• Unpaid care work: this is cooking, cleaning and caring for family members, and it is excluded from GDP. Unpaid work on a family farm produces goods, so it is counted as economic activity.

Prelims Hooks

• Feminisation of agriculture = women's share of farm workers rises, mainly because men migrate to non-farm jobs.
• 64.4% of women workers vs 36.3% of men workers are in the primary sector (2023-24).
• Female operational holdings (Agriculture Census): 12.78% (2010-11) → 13.78% (2015-16). Women operate about 11.72% of the operated area (2015-16) [4].
• Trap: the rise in female LFPR (23.3% → 41.7%, 2017-18 to 2023-24) is mostly rural (rural 24.6% → 47.6%, urban 20.4% → 28.0%) [1].
• Subsidiary status (economic work for 30 days or more in the 365-day usual-status period) is what counts many part-time women farm helpers as workers [1].
• PLFS is run by the NSSO (MoSPI) and was launched in April 2017. The Agriculture Census counts operational holdings.

Mains Points

• More work, no ownership: 64.4% of women workers are in the primary sector (2023-24), but women operate only 13.78% of holdings (2015-16) [4]. These two figures use different bases, but together they show the mismatch. Suggestions:
• joint or individual land titles for women;
• recognising women as "farmers" for credit (Kisan Credit Card), crop insurance and PM-KISAN;
• women-friendly farm tools.

• This links GS-III (agriculture) and GS-I (women's issues).

• Empowerment or distress?

• Empowerment view: women are more visible as workers, SHGs create jobs, and better access to water and cooking gas frees up women's time.
• Distress view: women stay on the farm because men left and household incomes are low. Unpaid family work gives women no income of their own.

• Policy aim: paid, secure, non-farm jobs for rural women, not just a higher headcount of women on farms.

• Reduce the double burden: TUS 2024 shows women carry most unpaid care work. Among people aged 15–59 who gave care, women spent about 140 minutes a day and men about 74 minutes [2][3]. Public childcare such as anganwadi-cum-crèches, and valuing unpaid work in satellite accounts, would let women farmers work productively without longer days.

Related concepts

• Female labour force participation rate
• U-shaped female labour force participation
• Unpaid work of women
• Unpaid care work
• Care work
• Double burden
• Gender wage gap
• Glass ceiling

Read more

• Who works: participation by gender and region, and women's invisible work