Gender Gap and Women Labour Participation in Agriculture in Andhra Pradesh

The paper has investigated the gender gap and trends in female labour participation in agriculture at the districts level in Andhra Pradesh and has identified its determinants. The study is based on both primary and secondary data. The secondary data were taken from the Census Reports of 2001 and 2011 and the primary data were collected from 420 farmers through survey undertaken in six selected districts of Andhra Pradesh. The study has observed that in total agricultural labour, the proportion of women labour was more than of male labour in all the districts. The participation of women agricultural labour in rice production activities has been found high in transplanting, weeding and harvesting operations. The study has found that the participation gap has been narrowed, but remuneration gap and advancement gap between male and female workers still exist. The OLS regression was employed to identify the factors that affect the participation of women in agriculture in Andhra Pradesh. At the district level, a high inter-district variation has been observed for the work participation of male and female labour. With the emerging commercialization of agriculture and introduction of new technologies, capacity building of women workforce is important for achieving sustainable agricultural growth and improving the rural livelihood security.