Women's participation in Indian agriculture

This book explores the process of women's work participation in agri culture. It systematically collates and analyses relevant secondary data for the period 1960 to 1988. This is perhaps for the first time that such a comprehensive exercise for the country as a whole has been attempted on the basis of secondary data. The study also attempts to bridge another major gap in the existing literature on women's work participation in India. It focusses attention on the need to study women's work participation within a larger socio-economic context and explores a variety of dimensions to develop a broad framework enquiry in which issues relating to women's work participation can be studied. Moreover, it emphasises that the whole process of female participation is dynamic and needs to be analysed as such.

The study highlights the fact that unlike men, women's supply behaviour and response to demand for their labour are not necessarily determined by market mechanisms. Specific agro-climatic conditions and crop cultural practices are associated with high female labour use and women from different classes in these regions respond differently to these opportunities for work. That is, changes in prices and incomes alone cannot explain the participation of women in the work force. Various social, cultural and ideological factors condition women's work participation.