When we talk about farmers, suddenly the picture of a sweat and soil drenched male ploughing the field comes to mind. But the reality is different. Women form a large part of the agricultural workforce and often work more than men in the fields. It will be no exaggeration to say that women are the backbone of Indian agriculture. But they are lost somewhere because of our myopic society that has yet not credited them with their work or intellect.

Dr Rajendra K Pachauri, chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and director general of The Energy and Research Institute (TERI), says in a survey done in Himachal Pradesh, it came out that a pair of bullocks worked for 1,064 hours, a man for 1,212 hours and a woman 3,485 hours in a year on a one hectare farm. Women were found to be doing 61 percent of the agricultural work with men doing just 39 percent.

Pachauri says that it is not the story of the women in Himachal alone but it is true across the country where despite slogging into the fields women are seen as secondary income earners.

Speaking on the sidelines of 12th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS), director of The Earth Institute, Columbia University, Prof Jeffery D Sachs said that looking at the Indian laws that govern these rights very widely we find that though the civil law gives Indian women right to inherit land, local customs may dictate otherwise. Some religious laws even forbid ownership of the land by women. Fewer than 10 percent of women in India own land.

Prof Sachs termed the Indian agricultural scenario a highly unsustainable one. He says, “Indian agriculture is not sustainable, especially because of the water crisis. In the bread baskets of India, the water table is dropping fast. Women, when it comes to the endeavours taken for the purpose of saving the environment and heredity, have always taken the leadership role in India. Be it the Chipko movement or any other movement associated with nature. The large workforce in the form of women can prove a boon to India in this sense.”

Dr Pachauri emphasized the need to redesign agriculture policies to make them gender sensitive. He says that there also is a need of change in government’s attitude. To this Prof Sachs said, “Women who are farmers have to be recognised as farmers and not as mere labourers. Only then will the structural and institutional reforms will recognise that women are stakeholders and give them their rightful place in the history of Indian agriculture.”