Women form 42% of India’s farm workforce yet remain unpaid and unseen. This article explores gender inequality and calls for policy reforms
Dipika Jena
Gender wage disparity is in news once again. A recent incident highlighting the pervasive inequality between women agricultural labourers and their male counterparts has come to fore from rural Karnataka. While this is just the tip of the iceberg, countless women continue to suffer from this problem in silence, their woes unseen, as authorities seem to be ignoring this critical issue.
This is startling, but true. India’s target to attain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in general and SDG5 ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’ in particular in the field of agriculture and farming, remains a pipe dream.
There are several statistical reports which corroborate the fact. A recent article published in The Hindu last week claimed that women comprise more than 42% of India’s agricultural workforce. However, around one-half of the women are working without pay. In the states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, more than 80% of women are farmers, and more than half receive no payment for their work. This extreme disparity raises interest in the following questions: Who gets benefitted from this? How does unpaid work sustain for these women? Where is the larger impact? Why is this unfairness? What policy can be implemented to recognize and redistribute value to these women who remain integral to the country’s agricultural economy, yet remain invisible? Is India really ready for the SDG 5- “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls?”
Most Indian women work for several hours in a day, but a few receive payment for their work and also in an occasional manner. Agriculture, which is the backbone of the country, still depends on women’s contribution as much as men. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (2024-25), women’s participation in agriculture has increased substantially. Around 13 to 14 percent of women possess agricultural land, however, only half of the women are getting paid. Data illustrates that nearly half of the women are unpaid family workers, their count rising from 23.6 million to 59.1 million over the past eight years. These are women working at the primary level who have been exploited for so many years.
In comparison to women in countries like the US and Europe, women are not only working at the primary level; they are also working at the secondary and tertiary level, where they have access to machines and technologies. Women head different agricultural businesses and receive equal pay, unlike Indian women who are struggling to make their ends meet. Their unseen toil translates into an unseen burden on the GDP, and this serves as an indicator of a silent gender equality crisis. The rewards of their efforts go to powerholders only, and women find themselves at the periphery of both praise and compensation.
This problem can be solved if the government guarantees legal status to women, as well as men, as farm labourers. Once women’s names are put on record, they become entitled to equitable pay. Also, the government should focus on women-intensive sectors such as tea, herbs and dairy and also help them in exporting the premium product like organic foods and GI-tagged products using their traditional knowledge. Since they cannot use machines like tractors, which need more muscle power, so by this way government should focus on empowering women at primary level in agriculture sector. The government should promote joint or individual ownership for women to enhance access to credit, insurance, and government support, which will help prevent them from exploitation.
Enhancing the digital platforms like e-NAM, promoting voice-first AI like Jugalbandi and Digital Shakti for digital and financial literacy will help in removing the gap of the digital divide. The fear of double dichotomy needs also to be amicably addressed. Moreover, recognizing women in farmers and gender-responsive farm policies are the need of the hour.
(The writer is a PG student in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Rama Devi Women’s University, Bhubaneswar)