Vegetable cultivation in Uttarakhand hills: viewing through a gender lens

Abstract

Gender is a social unhierarchical ordering of institutions into strongly classified words of men and women. It is used for studying the role of men and women in a society. Women form the backbone of agriculture in India, comprising the majority of agricultural labourers and have been contributing not only in terms of physical output but also in terms of quality and efficiency. They along with men are actively involved in vegetable cultivation activities, yet their active role is not countable. The present study was carried out on extent of participation of farmers and farm women in vegetable cultivation in Uttarakhand hills of India. The study was undertaken in two villages namely, Rousil and Ladkhora. Purposive sampling was followed for selection of the district, villages and respondents whereas blocks were selected through chit method of Simple Random Sampling. Analytical research design was used to meet the objectives set forth for the study. The data were collected through pretested structured interview schedule. The findings showed that the majority of labour activities related to vegetable cultivation were performed by women. The total time spent by men was 8.31 h per day and women spent 14.31 h per day on vegetable cultivation activities. Although women start work on the farm at a very early age, they still have little access and control over property, both moveable and immovable.