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Coimbatore Feb. 19 Even as the women participation in agriculture is poised to go up, the women workforce remained discriminated in the matter of farm wages, the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Ms D. Purandeswari, has said..

The percentage of women engaged in agriculture is up by 11% at 91.2 million as per the 2001 census as compared to the 1991 census. By the year 2020 women workers in agriculture is expected to be 129 million with their percentage in total workforce likely to touch the 50 per cent level because of the migration of men to urban areas in search of alternative source of livelihood, according to the Minister.

Speaking at the 4th convocation of the fellows of Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy for rural prosperity organised by the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) here on Sunday, Ms Purandeswari said though the existing legislation did not permit discrimination in wages on grounds of sex, the gender bias in agriculture sector was a stark reality where wages and division of labour were sex-based . The data from the Ministry of Labour (based on the wage report in rural India for agriculture for 2004-05) had revealed of the prevailing differential wages in agriculture between male and female workers and the women workers were given a wage 27.6% less (at Rs 44.43) than the male workers (Rs 61.37).

The Minister who felt that rural India needed to be given the extra impetus it deserved from the country's planners pointed out that income generation for the women in agriculture during off-season became a constraint and the decline of traditional handicrafts had further heightened the absence of alternative employment opportunities in rural sector.

More Stories on : Gender | Human Resources | Tamil Nadu

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