Womens Labour in Rice Cultivation

Abstract

newline A BSTRACT newlineHistorically, women have played a pivotal role in the rice economies of Asia -- including newlineIndia. As wage workers, and unpaid family labour on rice fields, women contributed one- newlinethird to one-half of the total labour involved in rice cultivation. In the early years of the newlinegreen revolution, total labour absorption rose with the increased deployment of female newlinelabour in rice cultivation. In particular, there was a rise in demand for hired female labour newlinein tasks such as transplanting, weeding and harvesting of rice. Post-1990, with rising farm newlinemechanisation, labour use in rice cultivation declined in most countries of Asia. Given the newlinedearth of literature on this issue in the last few decades, this thesis examines the newlinecontemporary features of women s labour in rice farming in India. The study examines newlineevidence from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal over newlinethe last two decades, using unit-level data from cost of cultivation surveys and village newlinesurveys. In the context of a decline in total labour absorption in rice cultivation, driven by newlinemultiple factors, including changes in technology and institutions, the objectives of this newlinethesis are to examine the effects on demand for female labour across agro-climatic newlineregions, and to examine the effects on specific tasks undertaken by women, and hence on newlinethe gender division of labour in rice cultivation in different agro-climatic regions, and to newlineexamine the forms of labour hiring (specifically between family labour and hired labour) newlineand forms of payment (time-rated and piece-rated payments) in different regions and its newlineimplications for absolute wages for women and the gender gap in wage rates. The thesis newlinefinds wide differences in female labour absorption in rice cultivation across five States. newlineThe variations in the gender division of labour in crop operations are explained by gender newlinenorms, stages of mechanisation, and male out-migration to non-farm work. Many studies newlinehave noted the presence of piece-rate contracts in rice farming; this dissertation explores newlinethe gender implications of piece-rate labour contracts. Despite rural women continuing to newlinexvidepend on crop production for their livelihoods and increasingly getting displaced from newlineproductive employment, limited studies deal with the gender dimensions of the changes in newlinefarming practices. Therefore, this dissertation attempts to fill this research gap by newlinediscussing the gender implications of changes in rice farming in India over the last two newlinedecades. newlinexvii