1Department of Dairy Business Management, College of Dairy Science and Technology, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar, 125004, Haryana, India
2Directorate of Extension Education, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar, 125004, Haryana, India
3Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension, Education College of Veterinary Sciences, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar, 125004, Haryana, India
4Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension, Education Dr GC Negi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSKHP Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, 176062, Himachal Pradesh, India
*Email for correspondence: rachna@luvas.edu.in
Online Published on 18 April, 2023.
India’s economy is primarily dependent on agriculture and its responsibilities fall squarely on Indian women, with 71 per cent of economically active women being employed in the agriculture sector. Women continue to be absorbed and engaged in agriculture in emerging nations like India but they are not recognized as hired or employed labour instead women have continued to be ‘invisible labourers’. Women as workers in the sector also experience gender differentials in agricultural wages as well as face discrimination and biases at various levels due to deeply entrenched, patriarchal socio-cultural practices both within the households and at work spheres. Despite increasing feminization of agriculture, women have largely been unseen in terms of agricultural policies, programmes and budgets as well as formal support systems for credit, extension, insurance and marketing services due to the lack of recognition of their role in managing land and livestock. Since the disparity between women’s actual economic participation and how the public perceives it has raised concerns, various studies have tried to close this gap. Many gender-based inequities and inequalities now seem to have been more or less ingrained in the fundamentals of public policies and the distribution of public resources. In terms of opportunities and outcomes, gender discrepancies still exist in education, workplace and public life. International organizations have led efforts in recent decades to promote gender mainstreaming with the idea that all public policies should be developed with the goal of promoting gender equality. The implementation of gender mainstreaming in the budgetary process is known as gender budgeting. Gender responsive budgeting (GRB) has been a crucial instrument for mainstreaming gender concerns over the years as part of the ongoing fight to make budgets and policies in nations throughout the world more gender-responsive. Beginning from the mid-1980s to date, over 90 nations have so far acknowledged GRB as a useful instrument for developing budgets and policies globally. In India, where majority of rural women are engaged in agriculture, empowerment and mainstreaming of women in agriculture can lead to a paradigm shift in favour of economic growth.
Women, Agriculture, Gender responsive budgeting, Workers
