Women's labour force participation in developing countries: The impact of gendered landownership rights

Journal of Rural Studies, 2020

This paper examines the key socioeconomic and cultural-demographic factors that determine rural women's labour contributions in agriculture in India, both on family farms (either as cultivators or as family labour) and as agricultural wage labourer. Based on the analysis of primary data derived from a survey of 800 households from the two Indian states of Gujarat and West Bengal, it establishes that women's work in the farm sector cannot be homogenized. Women's work as additional hands in family farms differs from that as wage labourers which is casual in nature; their work also differs across different regions. In the commercialized, relatively more developed state of Gujarat, women's labour contributions are significantly different from West Bengal's less commercialized agrarian economy. The paper concludes that feminization of agriculture in India is distress-led where it has both class (defined with income in Gujarat) and caste (social groups) connotations in Gujarat, while mainly economic factors influence women's work in the farm sector in West Bengal.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2006

Women's share of agricultural wage employment is rising across the Indian subcontinent. Studies examining this process of feminization tend to be divided along lines of an ideological debate following either the 'poverty-push' or the 'demandpull' argument. This debate however has largely ignored the institution of patriarchy. This study revisits the debate with a focus on domestic gender relations. We find that, despite increased labor market participation, women's household status remains acutely depressed. Women laborers, with access to productive assets, however, are effectively reworking gender relations within and outside the household. Their experiences, we argue, have implications for transformative policies. * The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support received from Department for International Development (award number R7617) and Newton Trust (award number INT 2.05(d)). I thank Sara Horrell, Paul Mosley, Hazell Johnson and GN Rao for useful comments on an earlier version of this paper. I am deeply indebted to my field research team:

Labour force participation in India responds to economic, social, cultural and demographic mechanisms. Employment, unemployment, and unpaid labour were all measured in the 1999/2000 Indian National Sample Survey. Men's official labourforce participation stood at 85% and women's at 35%. The overall rate of labour force participation among women had fallen since 1989. Furthermore, measurement issues create doubt about the real rates of change of women's self-employment. Women's domestic and farming work can sometimes arguably be classified as self-employment. However many women instead report themselves as housewives. The statistics reveal a U curve of female employment by education levels. A detailed measurement of both domestic work and other unpaid work is provided. Women in the Muslim cultural group do more extra-domestic work (and are more likely to be 'inactive') than women in other cultural groups. Economic poverty causes employment to be more likely. We provide a number of reasons which help explain both the work patterns and the housewifisation pattern. These include both subjective factors as well as economic and demographic factors. Note: all tables and graphs referred in this article can be found in the appendix 1.

Journal of International Development, 2010

India has experienced unprecedented growth in the last two decades-a development largely attributed to economic reforms initiated in the early 1990s. India's approach to liberalisation has been commended for its gradual implementation and its sympathy for poor rural workers. Studies examining the relevance of this claim generally use national survey data, which are seriously limited. So far little effort has been focussed on understanding what reforms actually mean for the rural poor using primary data. In this paper, we use data from a household survey carried out in the villages of Andhra Pradesh. We ask what impact India's reforms have had on its female agricultural labour-who are arguably among its poorest. Specifically, we investigate the impact of three developments considered fundamental to India's economic transformation: a sectoral shift in favour of industry, credit market reforms and poverty alleviation strategies. We argue that despite having a beneficial impact overall, economic reforms have resulted in further marginalising rural women into badly paid and socially debasing waged work.

2015

A lot has been studied about the different determinants of female labour supply process in the Indian Economy (eg. age, marital status, number of dependents in the household, sector of residence etc) but nothing has been said in depth about the interplay of the wealth ownership of the households and their effect on the decision of work force participation of women workers from such households. There has only been fleeting references of land-possessed or cultivated as one of the many determinants. But ownership of land being a historically important indicator of wealth of the households, especially in rural India, set us thinking as to how would the interplay of such a crucial factor affect the labour supply decisions of the women workers. In view of this fact we thought of exploring the latest EmploymentUnemployment Survey data published by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) to study the effect that land-owned (a wealth indicator), as one of the determinants of Female Work Force P...

Labour force participation in India responds to economic, social, cultural and demographic mechanisms. Employment, unemployment, and unpaid labour were all measured in the 1999/2000 Indian National Sample Survey. Men’s official labour-force participation stood at 85% and women’s at 35%. The overall rate of labour force participation among women had fallen since 1989. Furthermore, measurement issues create doubt about the real rates of change of women’s self-employment. Women’s domestic and farming work can sometimes arguably be classified as self-employment. However many women instead report themselves as housewives. The statistics reveal a U curve of female employment by education levels. A detailed measurement of both domestic work and other unpaid work is provided. Women in the Muslim cultural group do more extra-domestic work (and are more likely to be ‘inactive’) than women in other cultural groups. Economic poverty causes employment to be more likely. We provide a number of reasons which help explain both the work patterns and the housewifisation pattern. These include both subjective factors as well as economic and demographic factors.

2019

In India, there are distinct male and female roles in the rural economy. Women and girls engage in a number of agro-oriented activities ranging from seedbed preparation, weeding, and horticulture and fruit cultivation to a series of post-harvest crop processing activities like cleaning and drying vegetable, fruits and nuts for domestic use and for market. A disproportionate number of those dependent on land are women: 58% of all male workers and 78% of all female workers, and 86% of all rural female workers are in agriculture. Female headed households range from 20% to 35% of rural households (widows, deserted women as well as women who manage farming when their men migrate). Although the time devoted by both women and men in agricultural activities may, in several communities and agricultural situations, be taken to be almost equal, women are dominant within the domestic tasks. Rural Indian women are extensively involved in agricultural activities, but the nature and extent of their involvement differs with variations in agro-production systems. This paper reaffirms that women make essential contributions to agriculture and rural enterprises. But there is much diversity in women's roles and over-generalization undermines policy relevance and planning. The context is important and policies must be based on sound data and gender analysis.

Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology

The Indian economy relies heavily on agriculture, employing approximately 48 percent of the workforce, including men, women, and children. Women contribute significantly as agricultural workers, and their role is gradually gaining recognition, although certain obstacles persist. This study aims to analyze the trend of women's operational land holdings and average land holding sizes from 1995 to 2016, using secondary data. The findings reveal a negative growth rate in the number of land holdings and average holding sizes for women. This indicates a substantial gap between men and women in terms of land ownership, which hampers women's potential as farmers. It also suggests that women may have limited knowledge about their land rights. Additionally, the study examines wage disparities between male and female laborers across different agricultural tasks. In the realm of sowing, gender inequality was observed, with the highest wage gap occurring in 2005-06 when female earnings w...

Food Policy, 2006

This paper seeks to critically examine the conceptual linkages between the issue of land rights for women, with household food security on the one hand and gender equality on the other. After a brief analysis of shifts in both international and national policy discourse and practice in terms of control over land as vital for food security, it seeks to analyse the implications of this for gender relations. The paper argues that in a context of diversiWed rural livelihoods, the contribution of agricultural production to household subsistence has been declining. This trend has been reinforced by a decline in public investment, stagnant growth and Xuctuating prices for agricultural products. Men have been able to access the better paid, non-farm jobs, while leaving women behind to manage agricultural production. The renewed link between production and food security in agricultural policy has however meant allowing men not to have responsibility for household food security. While a right to land for women is a positive development, it appears also to be leading to an enhancement of work burdens, without much change in terms of status or decision-making authority. 