Increasing Women In The Farming Sector : Either By Choice Or By Circumstances

Rimpi Kumari

About 70% of rural population depends on agriculture sector to earn their livelihoods and this sector contributes about one-third of the nation’s GDP. Agricultural sector which has the hegemony of male workers finds it hard to accept women working on fields , a taboo rather. And there isn’t anything new to encounter such stereotypes because compared to male working in this sector which is physically challenging it is bound to gather some moss around it since we presume female to be less physically sufficed than men are.

But yet of course stereotypes exist so they can be broken and hence there are many women in the farming sector who sow the seeds, plough their fields and cut the crops. This is something absolutely marvelous although the reasons following this may vary  from poverty to vulnerability to one’s own interest.The social atmosphere and a woman’s priority are the two things that often encounter each other when a woman decided to go for farming. And obviously, when she is the sole breadwinner of her family the society fails to hold any importance whatsoever. There are way too many fingers pointed in hostility but none of them steps in need even when the family is at the verge of falling completely.

Vaishali Jayawant Bhalerao,40,a widow and a single mother of two lives in red-brick home in Maharashtra and has been farming since since her husband took his life six years back due to crop failure and debt of a loan they took to educate their children  The male counterparts still don’t consider her good enough but now when she has mastered the art of farming she feels confident as she survives for her two children which proves that farming is not tailor-made for men. Also, she earns good enough to send her two children to school. Farming ,a profession although forced by fate on Vaishali, she denied to get defeated and is now an example of strength whereas these two sisters from Rajasthan are into farming by their own choice.

Rimpi Kumari and Karamjit the duo who started to do farming seven years ago when their father died and own around 32 acres of land. Rimpi who left her job in Information technology to grow soybean, rice and wheat by using advanced farming technology now produces even more than her father used to. With very different wishes they do face wrath of the society whereas their own brother supports them.In a village where people believe that the girls of age of Rimpi who love sto drive tractor and Karamjit should get hitched, these sisters are breaking stereotypes like no other. Despite the disapproval from other villager’s their mother stands by their side. Rimpi feels uncomfortable in grain market where there are men all around and she is the only woman and to overcome this she wears shirt and trousers so that other take her seriously.

In a sector which is predominantly occupied by men these women are the silhouettes and moving forward productively keeping aside all the taboos.

The post Increasing Women In The Farming Sector : Either By Choice Or By Circumstances appeared first on The Logical Indian.

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