Women in Agriculture

Lesson 24 : Feminization of Agriculture- Concept

Introduction

One of the long-standing issues and bottlenecks for women is having equal economic importance which men are enjoying. Rural women face a distinct disadvantage since they are the ones who sacrifice their opportunity for education and skill development to manage land and agriculture. Women are largely excluded from training, extension and irrigation management. The phenomenon of increasing feminization of agriculture in many parts of the world has drawn policy attention. The increased number of women in agricultural production was brought by male rural out migration, the growing number of households headed by women and the development of labor-intensive cash crops. All of these lead to change in the traditional gender division of farm work: women taking up at lower wages the tasks formerly did by only men such as land preparation, cultivation of crops, spraying pesticides, harvesting, post-harvesting and marketing of the produce. It further explores implications for the producer’s economic agency and productivity; whether or not women’s participation in agriculture has undermined farm income. Gender equality is a social desirability that must be put into social practice to reduce gender discrimination. Technological empowerment, unmediated control and ownership of land, enhancing of agricultural management skills and knowledge of women in agriculture are ways by which agricultural production could be improved thus overcoming poverty and income inequality.