Socio - Economic
Conditions of
Agricultural Women Workers in Andhra Pradesh
Written By: Dr.Gandham Sri Rama Krishna
Published in Indian
Economic Panorama, New Delhi, January, 2015, Vol.24, No.4, PP.18-22.
Introduction
Women
are engaged in all activities of the economy – agriculture, industry,
transport, communication, banking, insurance, education and covering both
organised and unorganized sectors of the economy. There is hardly any economic
activity where women are not present.
Their productive role in the
economy is gradually increasing. Of
course there is inequality of women due to economic background and cultural
milieu in the country. All the women
workers are the most oppressed strata of the society. The women workers are treated as cheap
workforce. This is true about women
workers in the field of agriculture
which is a major unorganized sector of the Indian economy. The workforce participation of women in
different sectors of employment in India is on the ascendancy. Women are taking advantage of various
central, state government schemes in this regard. Both educated and uneducated, rural as well
as urban women are benefited by the welfare schemes and are marching ahead.
Individual and society are inseparable because human beings are social
animals and they have mutual influence
on each other. Thus, in all societies,
sociological and economic factors create inequality which prevails as a fundamental feature of the socio-economic structure of the society. The level of
socio-economic conditions of women in any society indicates their level of
status. In a heterogeneous, complex and
stratified society, the
position, the dependence and disabilities of workers stem from their
occupational immobility caused by a variety of economic and social factors.
The
different segments need be estimated
separately, taking into account such important characteristics as region, age,
rural or urban residence, status or
class of workers and educational attainments. If any evaluation of women’s
economic roles is to be meaningful, it has to take into account the
socio-economic status of different categories of the women-workers engaged in
different occupations. The differing, cultural milieu in which the villager
exists, and the resulting social stratification, can affect both the rate of
workforce participation and the nature and conditions of women workers, which
requires an understanding of the social background from which these workers are drawn into the
workforce. Since agricultural worker
occupies the lowest position in the occupational hierarchy.
The agricultural activities of the respondents varied as per their
socio-economic status. It is
interesting to note that more worker
intensive and time consuming activities
were performed by the women workers belonging to the lower
socio-economic groups. Land owning women supervising agriculture work were categorized as belonging to high
socio-economic group. Women performing agricultural activities on their own
land were categorized as upper
socio-economic group. Women owning small land-holdings and working
as wage workers on other’s land constituted the lower middle class. The
landless women wage workers were grouped
under lower socio-economic class. The
socio-economic conditions of agricultural women are a reflection of their status in society. The main factors
which had a bearing on their
socio-economic status were age, educational level, caste, marital
status, housing, assets, migration, income and
debt. (Sobha,2001).
In this regard it is desirable to enquire into and analyse the various social
characteristics namely age, education, caste,
family maintenance and economic factors like income,
expenditure, surplus and
investment of workers, migration,
housing conditions etc.
Age
In
the Indian context so far as the daily
wage-workers are concerned, the girl
child is an asset till she gets married. From 10 years
onwards the parents
take the girl child to the work for learning and earning. Age is the important factor which determines
the physical as well as mental capacities of women to engage themselves in an
occupation. The age structure influences
the economic and social interactions, social attitudes, and occupational
mobility. Agriculture is an occupation which provides more opportunities of jobs
to women even to girls and old women. The girls below 15 years and old
women above 60 years of age are commonly found assisting their family male
workers in different types of agricultural activities (Maurya,1988).
It has been found that presently working women have entered into the
workforce prior to their marriage and they are working ever since, even after they have started
their families. Due to economic compulsion of
the families, the women feel compelled
to enter into work from their
childhood. The parents and husbands who are above 60 years of age
also have to work to eke out their livelihood. Lack of assets
and large size of the families force the old parents/husbands to work and
supplement the family income. This shows the poor economic condition of the
agricultural working class who cannot
have their day’s meal without work.
Caste
Caste is a fundamental and unique institution
of Indian society. In fact the relationship between caste and
Indian society has been so long and so intimate that many
have viewed caste and Indian society
as inseparable. The relative status
of the people and their occupations in Indian society are decided by the
caste system. Thus, when the agriculture
workers belong to scheduled caste
and scheduled tribes, consequently
the farmer-worker relations have come to be influenced by the inter caste relationships. Further,
certain communities like Kamma, Kapu, Reddy,
Settibalija etc. in Andhra Pradesh have come to be closely associated with
agricultural activity and they are
regarded as pioneers/innovators of agrarian sector.(Sivaramakrishna, 1995)
In
rural areas, caste plays a dominant role in
the selection of the occupations
by both men and women. Women because of
their secondary status, partly due to external influence and partly due to self
enforced restrictions, have usually been engaged in the agricultural sector. In the present study
women belonging to the Backward Caste (B.C), Scheduled Caste (S.C), and Scheduled Tribe (S.T) were the major participants in agricultural activity. Basically these women were poor landless and
illiterate when compared to women of the forward caste category
who were relatively better placed. Therefore labour intensive activities
such as sowing, transplanting, weeding, threshing were performed by women from the lower castes.
Education
Education is a vital element in the development of
personality; it is also an instrument
for fostering and strengthening socially useful skills, habits and attitudes
and creates bonds of common citizenship.
Education is an essential factor in achieving rapid economic development and
technical progress and in creating a social order founded on the values of
freedom, social justice and equality of opportunities (Nanavati, 1970). According to Census 2001, anyone aged 7 years
or above, who can both read and write with understanding in any language, is
treated as literate. According to Census
2001, the literacy rate in the country is 65.33 per cent. Among males 75.75 per
cent are literates; whereas the percentage of literacy among females is 54.16
(Census of India, 2001).
The majority
of the women workers in agriculture are illiterate, because of financial
constraints, ignorance, customs and traditions in the family and they have not
taken care about their education. They
take to agriculture work for supporting their family. They retrain from going
to schools for acquiring education even though the state government is offering
free education and provide facilities like free supply of books at the primary
and secondary level.
Further the analysis reveals that the
majority of the agricultural workers households are unable to spend money on
education of their children and only a few of their children attend
schools. This is mainly due to the low paying capacity and lack of interest
towards education among the parents. Further, they expect their children to
work and supplement the family income. More importance seems to have been given
to the education of boys rather than girls.
Economic Conditions
Since
the agricultural workers had come from poor families, their parents and family
members also depend on manual work. The spouses of the agricultural women
workers are engaged in some manual work or the other to earn their livelihood.
The landless workers’
major source of livelihood is daily wage. In the wet area landless households derive their major
income from paddy agriculture. Very few had non-agriculture occupations in the
wet villages. Among the landless living
close to the margin, a few days without work for wife or husband could mean
greatly reduced income and food for the whole family. During the peak season (October and January) in dry villages, workers worked in paddy fields or cash crops and millets
(finger millets and sorghum) provided
alternative source of income.
The
total income derived from agriculture depended on a number of factors: the number
of days, availability of work,
the daily wage rates, the yields
per hectare, irrigated or rain-fed.
Workers in paddy cultivation received their ordinary wages only on working
days. One general problem which faced
women workers was a pervasive wage difference between men and women, and between activities done exclusively by women and
men. Thus, gender differentiated
individual ability truncate the worker-effort on income in the market
place. In dry villages wage rates were
very low for all women tasks. The study
revealed that most of the workers are in the marginal category and their income
was not enough to provide them adequate livelihood.
Generally the house is maintained by not only with the earning of the women
workers, but also with the income of other family members per-day.
The World Development Report(1996) also points out that “women have
fewer opportunities to secure livelihood because of constraints to land
ownership and lack of access to credit”.
Agricultural workers in general do not
possess any protection asset, which can provide them with some of additional
income. The income of the sample
households derived from different sources is hardly adequate to meet their
daily necessities. The sources of income
of these families are their meager productive assets and their own
manpower. Hence, most of them are
dependent on the money earned from wage income. A few agricultural women
workers had to spare their time to rear the animals like buffaloes, cows,
goats, sheep and poultry. Though the
money earned from these activities is meager, yet it contributes something to
the economic position of the families.
Women had to bear the bound of the additional income by taking care of
animals, feeding them, and also selling the milk and men rarely come to the
rescue of women in these activities.
Since the agricultural workers had come
from poor families, their parents and family members also depend on manual
work. The spouses of the agricultural women workers are engaged in some manual
work or the other (as daily wage earners) to earn their livelihood. It is observed that more than half of the
members of agricultural households are
depending on agricultural work.
Family Maintenance
It
is significant to note that the workers spend most of the money they receive
daily for the family maintenance without any saving. The total expenditure of
the respondents was broadly divided into
three categories. A part of the expenditure is for self-maintenance which
includes expenditure on food, cloth, fuel and medicine. Another category of expenditure includes for
developmental purpose like children’s education, improved agriculture and
cattle rearing. The third category of
expenditure relates to things like smoking, liquor etc., which are avoidable and hence termed as wasteful expenditure. In
addition, there is some expenditure on miscellaneous items like cell
maintenance, false prestige functions.
In
many families women do not have freedom to spend the money they earn, and they
have not say in economic decisions. In some families woman is the only earning
member and the entire family depends on her income. There are instances of such
women getting married late, or remaining spinsters throughout their life, and
sacrificing their life for the family. There are also women, who are tortured
by their drug or alcohol – addicted husbands, for some reason or other usually
for money to drink. Agricultural women workers give importance to local
festivals, fairs, Jatras, and Melas which are
celebrated annually and they
spend considerable amounts on the occasions. According to the Second National
Commission on Labour (2002) “even when women are remunerated for their work,
their contribution is often undervalued”.
In worker households men are habituated to
consumption of liquor and they spend a
considerable amount of money on it. The households of the women and men
agricultural workers spend their earnings on alcohol. Majority of the families
became a prey to this evil and some women are no exception in this regard.
It
is significant to note that though a large number of the women workers are in debts a few of them could save money to
meet the incidental expenses with their
savings. However, they have
chosen different means to preserve their
savings. Majority of the women workers have chosen chit fund companies
to keep their savings. A few respondents preferred to save in the bank.
The majority of the worker households could
not save money for future because they
were sunk in debts and were depending
solely on their labour power. Due to meager income and low wages, most of the
households of agricultural workers
remain always in debt. Once in debt, they find it difficult to
extricate themselves from indebtedness. The agricultural worker is forced to
borrow money mostly for consumption purposes, and for social ceremonies.
To meet their consumption and other
requirements, the respondents approach the village money lender for loan.
Taking advantage of the situation and illiteracy of workers, the money lenders
charge high rate of interest. As a result
some agricultural workers find themselves under
perpetual liability to the money lenders. The National Commission on
Rural Labour (1992) also observes that there was acute indebtedness amongst the
rural and agricultural workers and mentioned that 16.08 million rural
households including those of agricultural workers were indebted.
Migration
Migration refer to the movement of a person (or
persons), from one place to another
place; such a movement can
last for a short period or a lifetime. Employment
in agriculture is mostly seasonal with varying intensities depending upon
regional characteristics and crop-pattern. This seasonal activity is followed
by slack period, the duration of which
varies from region to region.
During slack season agricultural workers have to seek alternative sources of
employment. In busy seasons,
agricultural workers migrate from regions where worker is relatively scarce to
regions where it is abundant. According to a demographer, mobility in India is quite
considerable, about one-third of the total population was enumerated outside
their place of birth. The last two censuses reveal that men as well as women
shifted their place of work and migrated to the irrigated areas.
In agricultural seasons workers
migrate from the dry areas like Ingilapalli, Gollatte, Buthirajapeta and Garikavalasa
villages of Vijayanagaram district; Thardiyani, Devaravalasa, Palakonda and
Pundoor villages in Srikakulam district.
Jampapalem and K.P. Agraharam villages in Visakhapatnam district to Bhimavaram,
Narsapur, Yanamaduru of West Godavari district
and Gondi, Moru and Sakinetipalli of East Godavari district. The National Commission on Rural Labour
(1992) observed that approximately 40 per cent of agricultural workers are
migrants ranging from inter-district to inter-state migration.
Housing Conditions
The
housing conditions of the agricultural workers are deplorable. Their houses are generally
situated at places where
insanitary conditions exist.
They are not well built and they are not suitable for human habitation.
Agriculture workers and cattle sleep
under the same roof in most cases. Due to insanitary conditions,
lack of accommodation and poor standard of living agricultural workers
are subjected to ill-health and diseases. (Sri Rama Krishna, 2005)
The
housing conditions of the women workers also cause much inconvenience to
them. Small houses with 10’ length and
5’ width hardly accommodate 5-7 members of a family. The huts and hut-like
houses without proper ventilation and adequate accommodation largely impede the social and psychological bearing of the agricultural women workers whose
reproductive and domestic functions are badly affected. Insanitation around the colonies creates unhygienic
atmosphere. The unhygienic atmosphere is
due to lack of proper sanitation facilities and using of surrounding areas for toilet and washing purposes.
Washing clothes, cleaning the utensils, taking bath in front of the
house also result in insanitation and spread of epidemics. Those who possess
cattle give shelter to them right in front of their houses and this contributes
its mite to spoil the atmosphere.
The
houses are constructed without caring
even for the minimum facilities; hence the inconvenience to women. Generally,
in the absence of taps they depend upon wells for water. Even these wells are
not many and are situated at far-off
places. Protected water supply is
ensured by village Panchayat only in very few villages. Hence, women have to go long distances, draw
water from the tanks and carry it home. This considerably
affects their health and manpower. In the absence of minimum facilities, women
have to work hard in discharging their domestic work. They are the unprivileged
section of the society and psychologically they feel hurt. Hence, in the
helpless situation they take bath and wash clothes once in 3-4 days
or a week in order to present themselves at the work spot on time. Majority of the women workers revealed that
no one bothered to think about their welfare
and provide them with some facilities to improve their lot. Women
workers lamented by saying that “governments come and go but there is no change
in our situation from decades. We lack
even the minimum facilities like water supply, drainage, electricity,
sanitation, roads, proper accommodation in our slum areas.
Conclusion
India is unable to provide equal opportunities
to men and women. Disparities and discrimination stall exists in daily wages.
Women are not treated on par with men and their position remains the same in the
house also. The plight of women in
agriculture can be improved and significant progress can be made by well
designed policies and action. Self help groups will become popular and its
aimed at integrated development of women. Cooperative societies must be
developed among landless women workers may be promoted in very big way with
active support of the government.
Agricultural women workers suffer from
innumerable disabilities both in social and economic spheres. Besides attending to the household chores,
child rearing and preparing food for the family members, the women workers are
expected to work on the agriculture farm as wage labour. Their employment and working conditions are
generally characterized by seasonal and irregular work, job insecurity, undefined
working hours, appallingly low wages, discrimination at the work place
etc.
Education
of women made compulsory in the country and stringent action must be taken
against the parent of the women children. Education is an essential factor to
achieve economic development, individual development, technical progress and
creating a social order founded on the values of freedom social justice and
equality and opportunities and to avoid social evils and taboos. The theory of
Amathya Sen without compulsory education no economic development will be
possible to the growth of the nation. Even in these days gender bias in the
matter of education, wages, social practices are deep rooted in the society.
The electronic media must came forward in helping the society to overcome these
evils. Because mother is the first teacher of the baby.
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- Maurya Sahab Deen. (1988): Women in India, Allahabad: Chugh Publications, p.201.
- Siva Rama Krishna, K, Ramesh, K., Gangadhara Rao, M. (1995): Human Resource Management in Agriculture, New Delhi : Discovery Publishing House, pp.56-57.
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