The Invisible Backbone: Why India's Women Farmers Remain Unseen and Unsupported

— ✍️Dr. Ramjilal

Why are women not considered farmers? This is a critical question, especially considering that women form the backbone of the Indian agricultural system. Globally, approximately 900 million women are engaged in agriculture. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2019-20 report, 75.7% of rural women are engaged in agricultural work. However, only 13.87% of women from agricultural communities have legal rights over cultivable land. The situation is even more dire for women from non-agricultural (labour) communities, as only 2% have legal rights or ownership of land. In other words, about 86% of women from agricultural communities and 98% from agricultural labour communities do not have any land-related property.

Women from agricultural communities mostly work on their family land, while women from non-agricultural communities work as labourers on the land of other farmers. According to Dr. Rukmini Rao, Founder President of the Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch (MAKAM), women perform 70% of the work on each acre of land, compared to 30% done by men. By one estimate, a female farmer works 3,485 hours per year in the fields, while a male farmer works 1,212 hours. Women working in the agricultural sector across India can be divided into three categories based on their work.

Women are indispensable to Indian agriculture. They handle a wide array of tasks, including preparing the soil for sowing, planting and transplanting crops, managing irrigation, pruning plants, applying fertilisers, tying up crops, gathering produce, protecting harvests, and storing the cultivated goods. Moreover, these women often prepare and provide food and tea for the male labourers in the fields. When men are away, it is the women who step up to safeguard the crops, showcasing their resilience and commitment.

In today's evolving landscape, some financially empowered women are embracing modernity by using tractors and advanced agricultural machinery. In contrast, marginalized women often remain reliant on traditional farming methods, such as ploughing with bullocks or using bullock carts. Recognising and supporting the crucial role of women in agriculture is not just beneficial; it is essential for the growth and sustainability of the entire sector.

Gender Discrimination in the Agricultural Sector

Despite their significant contributions, women in agriculture face substantial gender discrimination. According to the Economic Survey of 2017-18, as men migrate from rural areas to cities for work, the role of women in agriculture has become increasingly critical. However, these women still encounter significant barriers in accessing essential resources such as land, agricultural loans, seeds, and markets. This lack of access prevents them from fully benefiting from government schemes and policies, resulting in their invisibility as agricultural heroines in the media.

Furthermore, researchers often focus on women in positions of power when discussing empowerment, neglecting the voices and contributions of women farmers and laborers. This exclusion creates the false impression that these women do not contribute to national development, resulting in limited research on their issues. Women farmers are frequently overlooked in newspapers, magazines, books, and electronic media. Although women's studies centers have been established in colleges and universities, and seminars on women’s empowerment are common, the specific challenges faced by women farmers remain largely absent from national discourse.

Women involved in agricultural work face numerous physical challenges; their bodies endure harsh conditions, leading to muscle strain and various health problems due to exposure to extreme weather. To date, there has been insufficient research on the reproductive health impacts for women working in agriculture.

A common belief is that male farmers commit suicide primarily due to rising costs and decreasing incomes. However, this is an oversimplification. In India, the recommended support price for farmers' produce, as proposed in the Swaminathan Report of 2006 (the C2+50% formula), has not been fully implemented by successive governments. The exploitation of farmers remains a significant issue, leading to substantial losses per acre each season.

Women farmers face the same challenges—floods, droughts, hailstorms, crop diseases, debt, and difficulties in managing household expenses. When alternatives seem unattainable, many, like their male counterparts, resort to suicide. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals that between 1995 and 2018, 50,188 women farmers took their own lives, accounting for 14.82 percent of total farmer suicides. Despite these alarming statistics, the issue of women farmers' suicides remains shrouded in silence, often overshadowed by the focus on men.

The unique challenges faced by women are frequently ignored. They are not only responsible for agricultural labor, often working longer hours than men, but also bear the primary responsibility for household chores and childcare. This dual burden creates immense stress, exacerbated by societal norms that often deny them control over land ownership and access to credit.

Without land titles, they are unable to access institutional loans and government subsidies, forcing them to rely on informal lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates. This indebtedness, coupled with crop failures, pushes many women into despair. They also lack access to information, technology, and training programs that typically prioritize men.

Addressing this crisis requires a multi-pronged approach that recognizes their specific needs. Implementing the Swaminathan Report's recommendations is crucial, but it is equally important to ensure women have equal access to land ownership, credit, and technology. Empowering women farmers through collectives can provide a support network and a platform to voice their concerns. The silence surrounding women farmers' suicides must be broken.

The primary challenge for many widowed women is securing inheritance rights to land. The Kisan Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch reported that between 2012 and 2018, 40% of widowed women were not granted land rights. Navigating the bureaucratic system—from the Patwari to higher officials—is daunting, especially while shouldering agricultural and family responsibilities. Furthermore, they often face derogatory remarks and significant challenges when seeking legal recourse, including the high cost of lawyers and repeated court fees.

The struggles faced by widowed farmers are ongoing and poignantly described in works like Kota Neelima's "Widows of Vidarbha: Making of Shadows."

What else do rural women do?

Animal Husbandry Work:

Women collect fodder and grass from fields and forests for animals, process it, feed the animals, manage milk production, collect animal dung, and prepare cow dung cakes. They assist their husbands in seeking treatment for sick animals at government veterinary hospitals or provide traditional home remedies. They also take care of young animals and protect the livestock when male family members are away. In short, women play a main and unique role in all tasks related to animal wealth, or ‘Pashu Dhan’.

Household Work:

Apart from agricultural and animal husbandry work, women manage all household chores. It is generally accepted that women bear near-total responsibility for this work. They wake up first in the morning and go to sleep last at night. Household work is women-centric and includes cleaning the house and courtyard, cooking, cleaning utensils, washing clothes, fetching water, raising children, ensuring they get to school, managing their education, gathering fuel, looking after family members' health, serving guests, and shopping for family events like marriages.

Despite this immense workload, if asked what his wife does, a man might say, "She does not do any work; she just runs the house." In other words, household work is not considered real work, and the work women do in agriculture and animal husbandry is routinely erased. Despite bearing such a heavy burden, women often face harassment and domestic violence.

Globally, women's work is largely unpaid. According to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report (2022), women in 64 countries work an estimated 164 billion hours without pay, which is worth about 9% of global GDP (or $11 trillion). A report by the State Bank of India's economic research department estimated that women working at home in India contribute ₹22.7 lakh crore to the GDP. A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report (2023) stated that if paid, women's unpaid work would be worth 7.5% of India's GDP. As philosopher Rosa Luxemburg argued, “The day women's labor is accounted for, the biggest theft in human history will be exposed.”

Despite this, women remain 'invisible farmers'. As a result, they are systematically deprived of government policies and schemes, such as loans, credit, technical assistance, investment, seeds, and subsidized inputs. “Our system treats women as invisible and non-existent,” says Dr. Rukmini Rao, founder president of the Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch (MAKAM).

- The Author is a Social Scientist and Former Principal, Dyal Singh College, Karnal, (Haryana, India).