GS1 Women Empowerment

Women farmers power agriculture but remain underpaid.
Women farmers power agriculture but remain underpaid.

Women Farmers: The Backbone of India’s Agricultural Economy

Despite their significant contributions, women in India’s agriculture remain underpaid and often overlooked in formal statistics.
Surya
6 mins read

Women in India’s Agricultural Economy

Introduction

Women play a crucial role in India’s agricultural economy. The celebration of International Women’s Day (March 8) alongside the International Year of the Woman Farmer, declared by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), highlights the need to recognise the contribution of women to farming and rural livelihoods.

However, official statistics often fail to capture the true extent of women’s participation in agriculture. Field-based research shows that women contribute significantly to crop cultivation, livestock rearing and agricultural labour, yet they remain underpaid, undercounted and undervalued.

Lack of Accurate Data on Women Workers

One major challenge in understanding women’s role in agriculture is the absence of accurate data.

Large labour surveys such as the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) often fail to record women’s work properly because:

  • Women’s agricultural work is home-based or farm-based
  • Much of the work is unpaid family labour
  • Work is often seasonal and intermittent
  • Agricultural activities are frequently combined with household and care responsibilities

For example, a woman who takes care of children while feeding livestock or assisting in farming may not report herself as a worker during surveys. As a result, the actual participation of women in agriculture is likely higher than official figures indicate.

Women’s Work Participation in Rural India

Despite measurement challenges, available data show a significant increase in women’s workforce participation in rural areas.

  • In 2011–12, about 35% of rural women (aged 15+) were part of the workforce.
  • By 2023–24, this rose to 46.5%.

However, this remains lower than global levels, where women’s participation rates generally range between 57% and 63% in many countries.

A deeper look at the data reveals that the rise in participation is largely due to self-employment rather than wage employment.

  • 2011–12: 60% of rural women workers were self-employed
  • 2023–24: 73% of rural women workers were self-employed

At the same time, the share of women working as regular or casual wage workers declined. This indicates that many women are turning to self-employment not by choice but due to limited wage employment opportunities.

Women in the Agricultural Workforce

In 2023–24, the estimated number of women working in agriculture was about 117.6 million.

This workforce included:

  • 95.1 million self-employed workers
  • 21.7 million hired wage workers
  • 0.8 million regular workers

For comparison, the male workforce in agriculture was about 127.5 million.

These figures indicate that women constitute nearly half of India’s agricultural workforce, making their contribution essential to the functioning of the rural economy.

Women’s Role in Crop Cultivation

Official statistics do not provide clear data on women’s share in crop cultivation because family labour is not recorded by gender.

To address this gap, village-level studies conducted under the PARI (People’s Archive of Rural India) project examined farming activities in selected villages in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

The findings show that women’s labour forms a substantial part of agricultural work.

  • Women contributed about one-third of family labour in most villages.

  • When both family labour and hired labour were combined:

    • Women accounted for 61% of labour in Palakurichi (Tamil Nadu)
    • 57% in Venmani (Tamil Nadu)
    • 41% in Mahatwar (Eastern Uttar Pradesh)

These variations depend on factors such as crop patterns, farming systems and socio-economic conditions. Nevertheless, the evidence clearly shows that crop cultivation relies heavily on women’s labour.

Women in Livestock Rearing

Livestock rearing is one of the fastest-growing sectors within agriculture, and women form the primary workforce in this sector.

In most rural households that own animals:

  • Women perform major tasks such as feeding, cleaning, milking and caring for animals.
  • On average, about two hours of work per animal per day is required.

According to the All India Debt and Investment Survey (2018–19):

  • Around 40 million rural households own milch animals.

This suggests that approximately 40 million women are engaged in livestock-related work.

Despite this large contribution, livestock labour performed by women is rarely recognised as formal employment.

Women as Agricultural Wage Workers

Women also work as casual labourers in agriculture, although their opportunities have declined.

This decline is mainly due to:

  • Increasing mechanisation of agriculture
  • Reduced overall demand for manual labour

Village studies show that the share of women in casual agricultural labour varied widely:

  • Between 16% and 71% across different villages
  • In most villages, women still accounted for more than one-third of casual labour

Many of these workers come from manual labour households or poorer farming families, making wage labour an important source of livelihood.

Wages and Earnings of Women Workers

Given the large number of women in agriculture, the level of earnings is an important issue.

Wages in Agricultural Labour

Village-level estimates show that women’s daily wages in agriculture remain low.

  • In the surveyed villages, women earned less than ₹300 per day.
  • Women’s wages were less than half of male wages in some areas of Tamil Nadu.
  • In Uttar Pradesh, the wage gap was smaller but wages were still low overall.

Official data from the Labour Bureau (November 2025) provide a similar picture.

  • The average daily agricultural wage for women in India was ₹384.
  • Wages vary widely across states.
  • Kerala recorded the highest wages at about ₹646 per day.

Even these wages have shown very limited growth after adjusting for inflation over the past decade, indicating stagnation in real earnings.

Earnings in Livestock Work

Livestock work rarely involves direct wages, so earnings must be estimated indirectly.

Based on income from milk production and dung sales, researchers estimated women’s implicit earnings.

In the villages studied in Uttar Pradesh:

  • Women earned roughly ₹100 per day from livestock-related work.

This is less than half the prevailing agricultural wage, highlighting the undervaluation of women’s labour in this sector.

Income from Crop Production

Estimating earnings from crop production is difficult because multiple family members contribute to farming activities.

However, data from the studied villages show that:

  • Annual income from crop production averaged less than ₹16,000 in one eastern U.P. village
  • Around ₹24,000 in the Tamil Nadu village of Palakurichi

Even if a portion of this income is attributed to women’s labour, their effective earnings remain extremely low.

Key Structural Issues

Several structural problems shape the condition of women workers in agriculture.

  • Women make up nearly half of the agricultural workforce.
  • Most are self-employed rather than wage workers.
  • Only about 10% of rural women own land, which is the most important productive asset in agriculture.
  • Women agricultural workers now outnumber male workers, but their wages remain lower.

These conditions reflect systematic undervaluation of women’s work in the rural economy.

Conclusion

Women play an indispensable role in crop cultivation, livestock rearing and agricultural labour across India. Yet their work is often invisible in official statistics, poorly paid and inadequately recognised.

Improving the condition of women in agriculture requires:

  • Better data collection on women’s work
  • Recognition of unpaid and family labour
  • Ensuring fair wages and labour rights
  • Expanding access to land and productive assets

Women effectively sustain India’s agricultural economy, but without proper recognition and support, their contribution will continue to remain undervalued despite its central importance to rural livelihoods.

Attribution

Original content sources and authors

Author Madhura Swaminathan, Source The Hindu

Syllabus classification

How this article maps to GS papers

Main syllabus

GS1Women Empowerment

Quick Q&A

What is the role and scale of women’s participation in India’s agricultural economy?
Women play a critical and often under-recognised role in India’s agricultural economy. They are involved in multiple activities such as crop cultivation, livestock rearing, fisheries, seed preservation, post-harvest processing, and household-level food management. According to recent estimates, around 117.6 million women were working in agriculture in 2023–24, which is nearly comparable to the male agricultural workforce of about 127.5 million. This indicates that women form nearly half of the agricultural workforce in India, making them central to the functioning of rural economies and food production systems.

Women’s participation is especially prominent in family-based agricultural activities. In crop production, women contribute substantially through tasks such as sowing, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, and processing. Village-level surveys from Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh conducted under the PARI project reveal that women contributed between 41% and 61% of total labour in crop cultivation in several villages. Similarly, livestock rearing—which is one of the fastest-growing sectors in Indian agriculture—depends heavily on women’s labour. Women perform most daily tasks related to feeding, cleaning, and milking animals.

Despite their extensive involvement, women’s work often remains invisible in official statistics because much of it is unpaid, seasonal, or combined with household responsibilities. For instance, activities like caring for cattle or collecting fodder are frequently seen as extensions of domestic work rather than economic labour. This under-recognition not only distorts labour statistics but also limits women’s access to institutional support, credit, and policy benefits. Therefore, acknowledging women’s contributions is essential for designing inclusive agricultural policies and ensuring gender equity in rural development.
Why is women’s work in agriculture often undercounted or invisible in official statistics?
Women’s work in agriculture is frequently undercounted in official statistics because of the nature of rural labour and the limitations of conventional survey methodologies. In India’s agrarian economy, much of women’s work is informal, unpaid, and intertwined with household responsibilities. For example, women may simultaneously manage childcare, cook meals, feed livestock, and assist in farming tasks during the same day. When surveys ask about employment status, many women do not identify themselves as ‘workers’ because they perceive these activities as part of household duties rather than paid labour.

Another challenge arises from the seasonal and intermittent nature of agricultural work. Women often participate in specific tasks such as transplanting or harvesting that occur only during certain periods of the agricultural cycle. Traditional labour force surveys, such as the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), may fail to capture these short-term or irregular contributions. As a result, women who work intensively during peak agricultural seasons may still be recorded as economically inactive.

The lack of gender-disaggregated data on family labour further contributes to the problem. In many smallholder farms, family members collectively contribute labour, but surveys do not always record the individual contribution of women separately. Consequently, their economic role remains obscured in policy discussions. Addressing this issue requires improved data collection methods, including time-use surveys, gender-sensitive labour classifications, and better recognition of unpaid work. Accurate data is crucial because it informs policies related to wages, social protection, and agricultural support for women workers.
What explains the rise in women’s work participation in rural India despite limited improvements in employment quality?
The rise in women’s work participation in rural India, from around 35% in 2011–12 to 46.5% in 2023–24, may appear encouraging at first glance. However, a deeper examination reveals that much of this increase is driven by the growth of self-employment rather than wage employment. The proportion of rural women workers classified as self-employed rose from about 60% in 2011–12 to nearly 73% in 2023–24. This shift often reflects a lack of formal job opportunities rather than a genuine expansion of productive employment.

Several structural factors explain this trend. Mechanisation in agriculture has reduced demand for manual labour in tasks such as ploughing and harvesting. At the same time, rural non-farm employment opportunities remain limited for women due to barriers such as lack of education, mobility constraints, and social norms. As a result, many women continue to engage in family-based farming or livestock activities, which are classified as self-employment even though they may generate minimal income.

Another factor is the increasing reliance on livestock rearing and allied agricultural activities as supplementary income sources. Women often take primary responsibility for these activities within households. While such work contributes significantly to household livelihoods, it is usually poorly paid or unpaid. Therefore, the rise in female labour participation should be interpreted cautiously, as it may reflect economic distress and limited alternatives rather than genuine empowerment. Addressing this issue requires expanding rural employment opportunities and improving wages and working conditions for women.
Critically analyse the issue of low wages and gender wage gaps in India’s agricultural sector.
Low wages and significant gender disparities remain defining features of India’s agricultural labour market. In many rural regions, women agricultural workers earn substantially less than their male counterparts. Field studies indicate that women’s daily wages in agriculture often fall below ₹300 per day, and in some regions they earn less than half of what men receive for similar work. For instance, village-level studies in Tamil Nadu found that women earned around ₹290 per day, which was significantly lower than male wages.

Official data confirms this pattern. According to the Labour Bureau, the average daily wage for women engaged in agricultural tasks such as sowing, transplanting, and weeding was about ₹384 in 2025. Although wages vary across states—Kerala being an exception with higher pay levels—the overall trend shows that real wages for women have remained largely stagnant over the past decade when adjusted for inflation. The gender wage gap is often wider in regions where overall wage levels are higher, indicating structural inequalities in labour markets.

Several factors contribute to this disparity. Social norms often assign women to tasks perceived as less skilled, such as weeding or transplanting, which are paid less than tasks typically performed by men. Women also face limited bargaining power due to landlessness, lack of union representation, and restricted access to alternative employment. Addressing the wage gap requires stronger enforcement of equal wage legislation, improved labour rights, and greater access to education and skill development for rural women workers.
How do village-level studies help reveal the real extent of women’s contribution to agriculture in India?
Village-level studies provide valuable insights into women’s agricultural work that are often overlooked in national surveys. For example, the PARI project conducted detailed field surveys in villages such as Palakurichi and Venmani in Tamil Nadu and Harveli and Mahatwar in Uttar Pradesh. These studies collected granular data on labour contributions within households, enabling researchers to examine how agricultural tasks are distributed between men and women.

The findings from these villages revealed that women contributed significantly to agricultural labour. In Palakurichi and Venmani, women accounted for over 50% of the total labour used in crop cultivation. Even in villages where their share was lower, women still contributed a substantial portion of the labour required for farming activities. These studies also highlighted women’s dominant role in livestock rearing, where they performed most daily tasks related to feeding animals, cleaning sheds, and milking cattle.

Such micro-level studies are important because they capture forms of labour that standard surveys often miss, including unpaid family labour and part-time agricultural work. By revealing the scale and diversity of women’s contributions, these studies help policymakers design more inclusive agricultural programs. They also underscore the need for gender-sensitive policies that recognise women not merely as helpers but as key economic actors in rural agriculture.
How can public policy improve the economic empowerment and recognition of women farmers in India?
Improving the economic empowerment of women farmers requires a comprehensive policy approach that addresses structural inequalities in land ownership, wages, and access to resources. One of the most important steps is to enhance women’s access to land rights. Currently, only about 10% of rural women own land, which is the primary asset in agriculture. Without land ownership, women often face difficulties accessing institutional credit, crop insurance, and government support schemes. Strengthening legal frameworks that promote joint land titles and inheritance rights can significantly improve women’s economic security.

Another important policy intervention involves improving wage conditions and labour rights. Governments can ensure stricter enforcement of equal wage laws and promote programmes that provide stable employment opportunities for women. Initiatives such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) have already demonstrated potential in creating wage employment for rural women. Expanding such programs and ensuring fair wages can help reduce gender disparities in rural labour markets.

Finally, policies should focus on strengthening women’s participation in agricultural value chains. This includes providing training in modern farming techniques, supporting women’s self-help groups, and promoting access to markets and technology. When combined with improved data collection and gender-sensitive policy design, these measures can ensure that women receive proper recognition and economic returns for their vital contributions to India’s agricultural economy.

Practice questions

1 question for mains preparation

Recognising women’s contributions to agriculture is crucial for gender equality and farm productivity. Examine.

10 marks · 150 words · 8 mins